Madurai Kamaraj University is revising its distance education syllabus. The new syllabus will come into effect in July 2014.
However, around three lakh students enrolled with the Directorate of Distance Education (DDE) at the university are yet to clear their arrears in various subjects.
According to Vice-Chancellor Kalyani Mathivanan, the students will be given an opportunity to clear their arrears by sitting the examinations in December this year and May next year, and the results will be declared in January and June respectively. This will be the pattern followed henceforth.
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Students seeking revaluation or photocopies of answer sheets will have their applications processed by the end of February in the case of examinations held in December, and before the third week of July if exams were held in May.
Addressing a press conference here on Friday, the Vice-Chancellor said the 47th convocation of the university would be held on October 23. Governor and Chancellor Konijeti Rosaiah and University Grants Commission vice-chairman H. Devaraj had confirmed their participation.
The Central Instrumentation Centre building, constructed at a cost of Rs. 4 crore, and the solar power generation system, established in the administrative building of the university on an outlay of Rs. 1.25 crore, will be declared open shortly. “The solar unit will help save around Rs. 60,000 a month. I have also asked all 20 schools on the university campus to fix separate electricity meters to gauge their individual consumption pattern. The plan is to power the entire campus with solar energy,” she said.
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To commemorate the golden jubilee year of the university in 2015, it had been planned to build a stadium at an estimated cost of Rs. 70 lakh opposite the planetarium on the MKU campus. An air-conditioned indoor auditorium is also on the anvil, she said.
Replying to a question on the non-appointment of a permanent Registrar for the university, the Vice-Chancellor said she was forced to look for talent within the campus as it would take considerable time for an outsider to understand the working of the varsity. “There are 20 schools, 77 departments, seven constituent colleges and over 100 affiliated colleges. It shows the enormity of work involved. The tenure of the Vice-Chancellor’s office is too short to set things right in all these institutions,” she pointed out.
When asked why temporary registrars were being shifted frequently, she said the first two Registrars (in-charge), R. Kannan and K. Pitchumani, were relieved because they had become members of the syndicate.
The third Registrar (in-charge), S.V. Hariharan had health concerns. “I didn’t want the post to lie vacant for nearly two months, which is why Muthumanickam has been posted as the new registrar (in-charge),” she said.
Ms. Mathivanan said steps had been taken to clean up the university campus spread over 500 acres. The renovated health centre on the campus had begun generating a revenue of Rs. 70,000 a month and hostel facilities had been upgraded.