After witnessing reasonably good admissions for 31 in-house non-technical courses, Karnataka State Open University (KSOU) is geared up for the second phase of admissions for the January session.
This time, students can avail themselves of admissions online for B.Ed. and MBA courses and a notification in this regard is expected to be published soon. Admission for these two courses will be through an entrance examination whose dates will be announced shortly.
Announcing this at a press conference here on Thursday, KSOU Vice-Chancellor D. Shivalingaiah said less than 20 students each had taken admissions for M.A. (Urdu), M.Sc. Biotechnology, M.Sc. Biochemistry, M.Sc. Information Science, and M.Lib. I.Sc. The university has, therefore, taken a decision to allow admissions for these five courses once again in January along with MBA and B.Ed. courses.
The UGC gave recognition to 17 courses in August and 14 more programmes in October, effective from 2018–19 to 2022–23. So far, 11,759 students have taken admissions to the courses, barring B.Ed. and MBA.
“In spite of a short span of time for admissions, I consider 11,759 students taking admissions an achievement for the university which was non-operational for almost three years wanting recognition. We are awaiting a much bigger response from students for admissions in the July session,” he said.
Online admissions
The Vice-Chancellor said students can avail themselves of online admissions by paying fees through channels such as SBI netbanking, other banks’ Internet banking option, or using debit or credit cards. They can download the SBI Collect application forms from the university’s website www.ksoumysore. karnataka.gov.in/.
Mr. Shivalingaiah said steps had been taken to provide information to students through bulk messaging system. Merit list, selection list, etc., of students will be published on the website.
Guidelines have been notified in respect of Ph.D. programmes. The list of guides to guide research scholars have also been notified. The UGC has not prescribed a time-table for this programme and therefore there is no restriction on the duration of admissions, according to the Vice-Chancellor.
He said the Board of Management and the Academic Council had approved certain programmes based on suggestions and demands from students. They include B.Sc. (PCM, CBZ, and PMC), BSW, BBA, BCA, M.A. in Education, and MSW. The Vice-Chancellor said a proposal would be sent to the UGC seeking permission for commencing these programmes from July 2019. Already, a proposal had been sent to the government for creation of teaching posts as per the new rules of the UGC.
Dean (Academic) Jagadeesha and other officials of the university were present.
Will KSOU VC get an extension?
“It’s left to the discretion of the Governor, who is the Chancellor of universities, to take a call on giving one-year extension to me.” This is how Mr. Shivalingaiah, whose three-year term ends in March 2019, replied to a question on Thursday on whether he would be getting an extension.
Mr. Shivalingaiah assumed charge when the KSOU was in crisis after losing its recognition. It took more than three years for officials to get the university back on track, securing the recognition and turning it into a functional university. The KSOU team led by the Vice-Chancellor made more than a dozen visits to the UGC headquarters in over two-and-a-half years to restore the university’s pride.
Sources said the Governor is empowered to consider giving an extension to the VC’s tenure by a year, based on the provisions in the KSOU Act.
Mysuru gets another mega auditorium
The 2,000-seat capacity air-conditioned Convocation Hall of Karnataka State Open University on Muktagangotri campus is ready for launch. The university has invited Governor Vajubhai R. Vala, who is the Chancellor of the universities, to inaugurate the auditorium on December 1. The work on the auditorium got delayed after the university was de-recognised in 2015. This will be the first official event on the campus after the KSOU got back its recognition in August.