Visvesvaraya Technological University is a collegiate public state university in Belgavi, Karnataka established by the Government of Karnataka.Apart from a few notable exceptions, VTU has authority over engineering education throughout 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.The university is named after M. Visvesvaraya from Karnataka, the only engineer to be awarded a Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award in India. Jnana Sangama, Belgavi is the headquarters of VTU. Additionally, the university has three regional centres in Bengaluru, Gulbarga and Mysore. VTU has 13 QIP centres and 17 extension centers in its affiliated colleges offering postgraduate courses. It has around 2,305 departments recognised as research centres which are spread across its affiliated institutions in cities of Karnataka.The Jnana Sangama, Belgavi campus and the regional and extension centres of VTU at Bangalore, Davangere, Gulbarga and Mysore offer M.Tech, MBA, MCA and PhD programs.VTU offers undergraduate engineering programs that award a Bachelor of Engineering (BE) or Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) degree. The university offers postgraduate programs that lead to Master of Technology (M.Tech), Master of Science (MSc) by research, Master of Business Administration (MBA), Master of Computer Applications (MCA) and doctorate (Ph.D). The MSc and Ph.D. are research degrees while the rest are taught degrees.Visvesvaraya Technological University accomplished its primary task of setting a common syllabus across the state in 1998. The university revises the syllabus every four years keeping in view technology upgrades around the world. The syllabus was revised in 2002, 2006 and 2010. In 2012, VTU announced that it would launch a 'first-of-its-kind' elective targeting railways and metro technology as part of the civil, electrical and mechanical engineering courses.'Autonomy' implies that the college has the freedom to set its own syllabus, evaluation system, and grading system, but the degree awarded will be by the university. This degree differs from the degree awarded by non-autonomous colleges, with the difference being that the college name is boldly marked as 'Autonomous'.The university organizes competitions for most sports played in India. Most competitions are held in its affiliated colleges except for tennis hockey, tennis, and table-tennis which are held on the campus at Belagavi. The winning teams represent the university in national-level competitions.