“We have proved that a university can progress despite being located in a small town,” Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Sciences University Vice-Chancellor Suresh Honnappagol told The Hindu here on Saturday. His four-year term ends on July 25. “The general impression is that only universities established in the metros do well, but we have succeeded in building a premier university that has its headquarters in this remote town,” he said.
A SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis showed that the university, set up in 2005, had several challenges. The biggest was the location of its headquarters that is 750 km from Bangalore.
“We have several colleges and research and extension wings across the State, and we needed to conduct meetings regularly. However, the location of the university posed a serious problem. Bidar is not well connected by rail or air and senior faculty members and officials who were in Bangalore, Mangalore and other cities, found it difficult to travel to the university’s headquarters. Then, we thought of videoconferencing and other communication tools,” Prof. Honnappagol said.
Now, the university makes use of videoconferencing facility extensively. Regular review meetings, meetings between heads of various centres, and admissions to undergraduate courses take place through videoconference in Bidar and Bangalore now.
He said the MBA course in food business offered by the university had become popular. It was open to all graduates and postgraduates in science. The course is conducted on the varsity’s Hebbal campus in Bangalore. “The first batch of 15 students found jobs in food processing industries through campus placements,” he said.
Prof. Honnappagol said the postgraduate course in wildlife veterinary sciences was another much sought after course. Students from across India were showing interest in it. The two-year diploma course in veterinary and animal husbandry was started last year.
It was exclusively for students from rural areas who had passed SSLC. After a year of theory classes, students undergo practical training for another year in hospitals and animal farms and were paid stipend. The first college was at Konehalli in Tumkur district. Colleges were also being set up at Ganjigatti in Haveri district and Dornalli in Yadgir district.
“Setting up a separate university for veterinary education has strengthened the focus on this field. The first veterinary college in the State was set up in Bangalore in 1958. After 26 years, the second college was started here in 1984. After KVAFSU was started in Bidar in 2005, seven colleges were established in seven years. Apart from Bidar and Bangalore, now we have colleges in Gulbarga, Shimoga and Hassan. Work on college buildings at Gadag and Athani is going on. The former Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda had announced another college at Puttur in this year’s budget speech. That will start by the next academic year,” he said.
Prof. Honnappagol is 54 and says he is looking for another decade of active service. He is the second Vice-Chancellor of the university.
Animal vaccine specialist R.N. Srinivas Gowda served as the first Vice-Chancellor from 2005 to 2009.
