Mysuru:  There is good cheer all round the Karnataka State Open University (KSOU) campus on Hunsur Road as the premier Open Distance Learning (ODL) centre in the country is at last opening its doors again to the lakhs of students to pursue their degree and post-graduate degrees.

The University has at last got recognition to run 17 non-technical courses for a period of five years from 2018-19 to 2022-23 from the University Grants Commission (UGC) that had withdrawn the recognition due to some technical reasons in June 2015.  It will begin the admission process by issuing admission notification within two to three days on its website www.ksoumysore.karnataka.gov.in and even announcing it in the newspapers.

Addressing a media conference at the Administrative Block of the University here this morning, KSOU Vice-Chancellor Prof. D. Shivalingaiah said that 17 ODL programmes had been granted recognition by the UGC. However, with regard to the remaining 15 courses, he added that he had met Governor Vajubhai R. Vala in this regard who also had assured to write to the UGC about the recognition.  “Once a student is admitted after he or she meets all the eligibility criteria, then the recognition is valid till one completes the course. Also all the guidelines set by the UGC including the statutes, rules and regulations and State government circulars will be strictly followed without violating any of them,” he said.

Eligibility for admission

A student should have passed PUC or equivalent examination for admission to under graduate course and should have passed minimum three years or more than three years of under graduate degree or equivalent examination for admission to post graduate courses, he said.

However, there is no restriction regarding the number of students to be admitted to the various 17 non-technical programmes offered by KSOU and admission will be provided to all eligible students, said Prof. Shivalingaiah.

He said that the prospectus, form of application for admission, form of challan for payment of fee is uploaded in the University’s official website www.ksoumysore.karnataka.gov.in to various courses, he said.

He also said that the student may submit the duly filled-in application after remitting the fees in any one of the branches of State Bank of India in this country along with necessary documents and fee paid challan to the Regional Centre of his, her choice and obtain acknowledgement.

On the pending 15 programmes, the VC said that the University is going all out to get the recognition for the remaining courses pending with UGC.

Regarding the marks cards and other certificates, he said that signature of Registrar (Evaluation) will be attested on the marks cards and that of the Vice- Chancellor on degree certificates. All precautions is being taken by appointing a Nodal Officer to coordinate with the National Academic Depository (NAD), which is an online store house.

Its function is to upload the transfer certificate, marks cards, transfer certificates, passing certificates (PPC), migration certificates, convocation certificate and other certificates in the digital mode, he said.

Public grievance cell

A public grievance cell has also been set up for the students to submit their grievances, he said and added KSOU had suffered a loss of more than Rs.100 crore in three years.

Dean of Study Centre Prof. D.T. Basavaraju, Dean Academy Prof. Jagadish and Registrar (Evaluation) Rangaswamy were present.

List of 17 courses recognised

The following are the 17 non-technical online distance learning (ODL) programmes recognised by UGC for a period of five years from 2018-19 to 2022-23: Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Commerce, Bachelor of Library and Information Science, Master of Arts (Ancient History and Archaeology), Master of Arts (Economics), Master of Arts (English), Master of Arts (Hindi), Master of Arts (History), Master of Arts (Journalism and Mass Communication), Master of Arts (Kannada), Master of Arts (Political Science), Master of Arts (Public Administration), Master of Arts (Sociology), Master of Arts (Urdu), Master of Commerce, Master of Library and Information Science and Master of Science (Environmental Science).

List of courses yet to be recognised

The following are the  15 ODL programmes that the UGC has not granted recognition: Bachelor of Education (B.Ed), Master of Business Administration (MBA), LLM (Master of Law), Master of Arts (Sanskrit), M.Sc (Biochemistry), M.Sc (Chemistry), M.Sc (Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics), M.Sc (Computer Science), M.Sc (Geography), M.Sc (Information Science), M.Sc (Mathematics), M.Sc (Microbiology), M.Sc (Physics) and M.Sc (Psychology).