The Department of Information Technology, Biotechnology and Science & Technology, (IT,BT and S&T), Government of Karnataka has announced that registration for Karnataka Biotechnology Aptitude Test (K-BAT) under Biotechnology Skill Enhancement Program (BiSEP) is open. Candidates who have appeared for the final semester/year qualifying degree examination are also eligible for taking online entrance test.  The last date to register online at www.bisep.karnataka.gov.in for K-BAT is July 31, 2019.

Candidates can Whatsapp their query to 94484 70039. BiSEP was launched with a redesigned curriculum jointly by Dept. of IT, BT and S&T, Government of Karnataka and Department of Biotechnology, Government of India in collaboration with Life Science Sector Skill Development Council (LSSSDC), Institute of Chemical Technology (CSIR-IICT) and Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises (ABLE). Skill-sets acquired under BiSEP are assessed by Industry experts thus making it a unique Industry – Academic partnership program.

Dr. Renu Swarup, Secretary Dept. of Biotechnology, Govt. of India  said “What we are trying to do through BiSEP is to give the candidates joining the program that extra bit of curriculum and understanding of what the industry needs so that they can begin contributing to the growth of the biotech sector from say one of their employment".

Gaurav Gupta, Principal Secretary, Dept. of IT, BT and S&T, Government of Karnataka said "This is a first of its kind initiative, envisioned to bridge the gap between industry requirements and quality of students passing out of institutions. We provide students the experience of real-life industry-oriented experience where they work on problems which are not taught-in-depth in regular academic curriculum. With the Biotech Finishing School program, Karnataka became one of the first States in India to focus on skill development in biotechnology. Through BiSEP, we aim to continue to support the growth of the biotech sector and create a trained workforce supply which has quality skill-sets that are industry-ready by enabling collaboration between academia and industry".

Prof. G. Padamanaban, Member of Vision Group for Biotechnology, Govt. of Karnataka feels "Biotechnology is a knowledge-based industry and requires highly skilled manpower and BiSEP has a major role to play to equip the candidates with adequate skills and provide for growth of biotech sector both in Karnataka and outside”.

 Prashant Kumar Mishra, IAS, Managing Director, KITS said “BTFS/BiSEP is a novel initiative of Government of Karnataka through which we want to expose the students to specialised sub-domains of Biotechnology. This will bring about a seamless connect between academia and industry”.

BiSEP, the modified 2^nd phase of BTFS program launched in March 2018 has so far trained over 325 in two batches and placed all of them in industries for internship. Biotechnology Skill Enhancement Program (BiSEP) was sanctioned to eighteen institutes of higher education in the State with majority of them located in tier II & III cities to train students in various sub-domains of Biotechnology. These host institutes together have tie-ups with over 150 biotechnology industries that include Biocon, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Himalaya Drug Company, Anthem Biosciences, Bhat Biotech and also biotech start-ups like String Bio, Viravecs Labs, Seragen Biotherapeutics etc., to help them in imparting industry specific skills-sets and also provide internship.