The astrology course offered by Madurai Kamaraj University, which was stopped in the previous DMK regime, is now revived.
A decision to this effect was taken at the varsity's Syndicate meeting held in Chennai on December 20 which was attended by Secretaries of various State Government departments who are members of the Syndicate.
The university was earlier offering certificate and diploma courses in astrology through distance education mode and it was asked to suspend the course three years back by authorities in the then Government, sources told ‘The Hindu' on Saturday.
A senior MKU official said that the astrology course was in fact having a huge demand and almost 1,500 students were enrolling every year either in English or Tamil medium. The issue of reviving astrology course was an item for discussion in the Syndicate meeting agenda and it was “immediately approved,” granting permission to the university to offer the course.
“It was one of the most sought-after courses from people in different places. There were many representations to start the course but we could not revive it earlier due to various reasons. The course was stopped in early 2008-09,” a distance education coordinator said.
According to him, the course material for one-year certificate and diploma programme was prepared drawing astrology experts “and it is good that a course enjoying huge demand from people is now being revived.” With the Syndicate giving green signal, the Directorate of Distance Education is set to offer its ‘star course' very soon.
Meanwhile, the Registrar in-charge, M. Rajiakodi, said on Saturday that a special Syndicate meeting would be convened to decide on the Syndicate nominee for the Vice-Chancellor search committee.
Since a decision could not be taken in last Tuesday's meeting on its nominee for the VC search panel, there had to be a special meeting again to speed up the process, he said, adding the next meeting might be in 10 days.
