Mysuru: The University of Mysore (UoM) has decided to increase the student intake by 20 per cent from the coming academic year.

A decision to this effect was taken by the Varsity following the State Government’s directive to enhance the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in institutes of higher learning, at the UoM Academic Council meeting chaired by  Vice-Chancellor Prof. G. Hemantha Kumar here on Thursday.

The Council members gave their approval for the increase to comply with the government directives and it will be implemented in all Departments at the University campus and Government Colleges affiliated to the Varsity and offering PG courses.

The current intake for PG courses in the campus is approximately around 2,800 and is expected to be increased to around 3,000 following the decision. The increase in intake will vary from course to course and also depend on the available infrastructure and staff strength.

The meeting was also clarified that intake of seats will not be applicable to private colleges. It is up to the Government to take a decision on the issue.

Committee to ramp up facilities  

Responding to a query by  a Council member on shortage of academic and allied staff that might arise due to increase in seats, the meeting decided to constitute a Committee to study the available infrastructure and staff strength in different courses and submit a report. Based on this, the Varsity will take measures to ramp up the facilities to absorb the increase in intake.

Vice-Chancellor Prof. Hemantha Kumar said that GER is defined as the total number of students in higher education as a percentage of the eligible population for enrolment, in a given year. It was pointed out that the GER in Karnataka was 26.5 per cent against the national average of 25.2 per cent.

Compared to Karnataka, the GER in the neighbouring States of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana was higher and the State Government has held a detailed discussion with the stakeholders and policy-makers to shore up GER of Karnataka. An official directive was issued in December 2018 to increase the intake so as to shore up the GER by 20 per cent from the new academic year (2019-20) across all Universities and Government Colleges offering PG courses.

Affiliation to continue

The meeting has also decided to continue the affiliation of 164 Colleges including 76 in Mysuru district, 27 from Mandya and 42 from Hassan.

In addition to this, four Colleges were also given fresh affiliation at the meeting — Dr. Chandrashekar’s Cauvery Group of Health Sciences, Mysuru, Sri Vinayaka Educational Institution’s Iyers First Grade College of Pandavapura, Golden Degree College of Hassan,  S.D. Jayaram Comprehensive Institute of Rural Development of Mandya.

The meeting did not give affiliation to many colleges including K.R. Nagar’s Yadathore College of Education,   Mysuru’s Vatsalya College of Education and Sri Ramakrishna Institute of Physical and Spiritual Education. However, the meeting clarified that City’s St. Joseph’s Evening College and Periyapatna’s Yajaman First Grade College were yet to submit for affiliation.

UoM Registrar Prof. Lingaraj Gandhi, Registrar (Evaluation) Dr K.M. Mahadevan and others were present.     

Endowment Gold Medals instituted

The meeting also gave approval for distribution of awards to students in the names of Prof. Usharani Narayana Nagarathna, Prof. Usharani Sowmyanayaki and Prof. B.P. Maheschandraguru Endowment Gold Medals.

Newly-nominated Academic Council members Prof. G. Nagendrappa and Prof. D. Ananda were accorded a warm welcome and their names were approved in the Academic Council meeting.