Sir,

The correspondent of the letter titled “Give Autonomy, Special Status to University of Mysore” in Star of Mysore dated Nov. 6 has cogently argued not to restrict the jurisdiction of University of Mysore (UoM) by limiting its control to the colleges of just Mysuru city and district. Instead, he has argued to make the UoM autonomous and give it a special status.

It must be remembered that UoM has a great heritage, tracing to the legacy of  enlightened ruler Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar whom Mahatma Gandhi called Raja Rishi. The University was established in 1916 due to the efforts of Sir M. Visvesvaraya, engineer-statesman. The University jurisdiction did not limit to the then capital of Mysore only but extended to the whole of Mysore State.

By narrowing the jurisdiction of UoM to Mysuru city and district amounts to destroying its illustrious heritage. UoM had a galaxy of eminent personalities who contributed to spread its name and fame.

Even now most of the Indian and foreign students prefer to study in UoM and have published their research papers                   in national and international journals.

UoM has made a name in the technique of extension lectures published in Kannada for educating the masses. The University Teachers Association (UTA) has been of great help in carrying out this programme. This is something unique and Principal J.C. Rollo, who was the President of UTA, described this work as the ‘Mysore Experiment’ that helped spread adult education programmes and helped in many ways that resulted in the recent concepts of distance education, correspondence courses or the open university system.

It meant what Oxford had not done, Mysore was doing for nothing like that was to be seen anywhere else (Source: An Era of Enlightenment by Prof. B. Sheik Ali). Keeping this unique contribution at academic level, it is more than justified to spread its jurisdiction to Karnataka State.

– H.R. Bapu Satyanarayana, Saraswathipuram, 7.11.2022

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