Distance Education Courses being offered by Mangalore University will go into the annals of history as the university has stopped taking new admissions.
The university has been forced to stop new admissions for first year courses after the State government issued a notification which offered the exclusive right of conducting Open and Distance Learning courses to Karnataka State Open University in Mysuru.
The 40-year-old Mangalore University launched its Distance Education Courses in 2004.
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According to Director of Centre of Distance Education at the university Y. Sangappa, with new admissions being stopped, the centre has about 4,500 students, which included undergraduate, post-graduate and B.Ed students.
They are second and third year undergraduate students and second year post-graduate students.
When the present batch of B.Ed students will pass out this year, there will be no more B.Ed students.
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The university offered BA, B.Com and BBA courses and post-graduate courses in Economics, History, Political Science, Sociology, English, Kannada, Hindi, Commerce and Tourism Administration.
Vice-Chancellor of the university P.S. Yadapadithaya told The Hindu that the university has now decided not to challenge the notification of the government in court. Earlier, it was exploring the option of moving court against the notification. Once the centre is closed, the university will suffer a financial loss of ₹6 crore per annum, he said.
In-charge Registrar (administration) P.L. Dharma said that the government has made it clear to State universities offering Distance Education Courses that it cannot allow the same henceforth.
The State government issued a Gazette notification granting the exclusive right of offering Open and Distance Learning courses to KSOU in December 2020 after amending the Karnataka State Universities and Certain Other Law (second amendment) Act 2020.