Recognizing the importance of professional education in knowledge sector, Karnataka State streamlined technical education by establishing Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) in the year 1998. This has ushered in a new paradigm in the field of technical education by bringing all the engineering colleges under a single umbrella. The setting up of VTU has brought uniformity in academic and administrative functions of the engineering colleges in Karnataka.

VTU has a mission of becoming an outstanding university by producing world class engineers. 121 engineering colleges are affiliated to the University with a student intake of 38,000 per year and overall student strength of a whopping 140,000. In all the University offers 25 UG and 54 M.Tech. programmes, MBA, MCA, M.Sc.(Engg) and Ph.D. It has recognized 80 research centres across Karnataka. VTU, which has its own sprawling 115-acre campus in Belgaum, consists of four regional offices at Bangalore, Mysore, Belgaum and Gulbarga. Belgaum is about 620 km from Bangalore, the silicon valley of India. For details, please see www.vtu.ac.in

The recent initiatives of VTU include campus-wide LAN at Belgaum with 1000 data access points, networking of all the engineering colleges, Distance education through satellite and web (e-learning), and establishment of Microsoft's Technical Centre. VTU has signed MOUs with IBM, Intel, Asia Electronics Inc., Ingersoll-Rand, Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, Uni Graphic Solution and Diamante Metallplastic of Germany.