Belagavi, DHNS: Karnataka will soon get a skills university to enhance the employability of graduates in the service sector, Higher Education Minister Basavaraj Rayareddy said here on Saturday.

“The university will help to grow the service sector as we are far behind China and the US,” he said at the 16th annual convocation of Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU).

Rayareddy said the state government was striving to improve the quality of science and technical education. It’s a matter of concern that just 15% of the 15 lakh students who graduate every year are employable. The government aims to ensure that at least 40% of the students have undergraduate degrees. It is planning to provide free education up to postgraduate level for girls.

In another announcement, the minister said the government had held the first round of talks with the London School of Economics and Political Science which would provide faculty support to the proposed Dr B R Ambedkar School of Economics. The state Cabinet will decide in a fortnight on when the new institute would become functional, he added.

Delivering the convocation address, Prem Krishna, former chairman, CSIR - Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee, asked the graduating engineers not to try and draw up rigid 50-year career programmes. “We live in a fast-changing world... thus the challenges and opportunities seen today could alter in 10 years.”

He called on engineers to be flexible to avoid frustration. “Flexibility is the sign of youth, while rigidity is indicative of ageing. In life, one should flow like water. If you come up to an insurmountable blockage in life, try to flow beside it like water. One should also not make choice only according to the future prospects as they appear to be today.”

He said challenges helped to bring out the best in a person and groups. “Today, a wide variety of career options are available. As one makes choice, they realise that it was not an open-ended problem and there are constraints.

“Natural resources are not going to increase. Land area and water are constant. Increasing population and its aspirations for a higher standard of life will test these constants increasingly. It thus seems imperative to optimise the use of various resources even if one has financial means to use them wastefully. The Gandhian philosophy is perhaps more relevant today as compared to any other time, therefore one should think of those who are less fortunate than you and help them,” he stated.

Governor and VTU Chancellor Vajubhai Vala presented gold medals and certificates to rank holders and research scholars.