Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU, Kannada: ವಿಶ್ವೇಶ್ವರಯ್ಯ ತಾಂತ್ರಿಕ ವಿಶ್ವವಿದ್ಯಾಲಯ) is a state university in Karnataka, India. It was established in 1994 by the Government of Karnataka as per VTU Act to improve the quality of technical education in the state. Apart from a few notable exceptions, VTU has complete authority in the state of Karnataka. It is a statutory requirement for colleges offering any program in engineering or technology in the state to be affiliated with the university. VTU is named after Sir Visvesvaraya from Karnataka, the only engineer to be awarded a Bharat Ratna award, the highest civilian award in India. Jnana Sangama, Belgaum is the headquarters of VTU. Additionally, the university has three regional centers located in Bangalore, Gulbarga and Mysore. The year 1998 marked the entry for the first batch of students under VTU. As of May 2011, there are 208 colleges affiliated to the university with an intake capacity of 67100 undergraduate students and 12666 postgraduate students. The university encompasses various technical fields and offer a total of 28 undergraduate and 71 postgraduate courses. The university has around 1800 PhD candidates.