After remaining dormant for three years, the Karnataka State Open University (KSOU), whose recognition was terminated by the University Grants Commission (UGC) in June 2015 from 2012-13 onwards for blatant violation of norms, may soon be abuzz with activity like in the past as it is expecting recognition from the UGC for the year 2018-19.
This renewed confidence has come in the wake of the UGC’s letter on June 6 to Vice-Chancellor D. Shivalingaiah to keep all documents ready for an interface on the issue of recognition following the KSOU’s appeal for admission to in-house non-technical programmes from this July onwards.
The KSOU had uploaded the application in April along with the required documents for obtaining recognition for the year 2018-19 as per the UGC (ODL) Regulations, 2018. The application was appended with 900-page three-volume report containing all documents for launching admissions to 31 in-house courses, including M.Sc., MA, MBA and BA programmes.
The V-C had recently presented a memorandum to Satyanarayan Jatiya, chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development, New Delhi, who was in Mysuru last week, requesting him to restore the recognition from 2013-14 and 2014-15, besides granting recognition for in-house non-technical programmes for 2018-19.
The V-C had urged the chairman to intervene since the students, parents, organisations, associations, and other stakeholders were agitating against the KSOU and UGC since the issue had not been resolved even after three years
A few days after the committee meeting here, the V-C got a letter from the UGC for keeping the documents ready for a final review. “The letter has come as a big hope for us and we are eagerly awaiting a call from the UGC. I’m fully confident of getting recognition and starting admissions for in-house courses from July,” Prof. Shivalingaiah told The Hindu. “Including the appointment letters of the teaching staff, all documents had been uploaded to the UGC. There is nothing left to submit. Therefore, we are positive of getting back the recognition,” he said. With the change in regulations for ODL, there are two admission cycles for distance learning – July and January. “We have applied for the July cycle with the academic year for 2017-18 closing on June 30.”
The V-C said he was fully prepared to reply to all queries from the UGC in case it calls him for a meeting in New Delhi in connection with the recognition.
Claiming that the Parliamentary Standing Committee on HRD meeting where he was allotted time to make a presentation on the KSOU episode was a ‘turning point’, Prof. Shivalingaiah said the committee spoke to the UGC Joint Secretary who was present at the meeting to resolve the issue soon. More than 16 MPs attended the meeting at a private hotel here on June 2, he said.
31 in-house non-technical courses from July?
Barring Master of Law, the KSOU is confident of getting the UGC nod for commencing admissions to 31 in-house non-technical courses for 2018-19 from July, after a gap of three years. “We are ready to start admissions since we had done all the groundwork early. The UGC permission is awaited before June 30 since the calendar of admissions across the country for open distance learning (ODL) programmes has been fixed and all of us have to stick to the timetable,” said Vice-Chancellor D. Shivalingaiah.
The list of programmes for which approval has been sought include BA, B.Com, B.Ed, Bachelor of Library and Information Science, MA in Economics, Journalism and Mass Communication, Ancient History and Archaeology, English, Hindi, History, Kannada, Political Science, Public Administration, Sanskrit, Sociology, Urdu, MBA, M.Com, Master of Library and Information Science, M.Sc in Biochemistry, Biotechnology, Chemistry, Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics, Computer Science, Environmental Science, Geography, Information Science, Mathematics, Microbiology, Physics and Psychology.
The V-C said the KSOU sought permission for 32 courses, including Master of Law but the UGC has clarified that permission cannot be given for this particular course.
