India, Aug. 31 -- The College of Engineering Pune (COEP) Technical University's research campus at Chikhali may soon be recognised as a sub-centre of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, said Chandrakant Patil, state higher and technical education minister, during the second convocation ceremony of the varsity in Pune on Friday.

At least 358 postgraduate students (271 MTech and 87 MBA), 725 graduate students, and nine gold medalists received degree certificates at the event.

Patil said institutional partnerships with premier institutes like IIT Bombay would not only strengthen technological development, but also accelerate India's journey towards becoming a global innovation hub.

"Discussions are underway with the central g...