The laying of a foundation stone for a new campus of University of Mysore near the foothills of Chamundi was among a slew of projects kick-started by Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy in the city on Friday.
The new campus, spread across 25 acres, is expected to house a pharmacy college, a research centre and a technical education centre equivalent to National Institute of Technology (NIT).
The other projects inaugurated by the Chief Minister at a programme at Crawford Hall include the University’s law school building, building of Post Graduate Department of Organic Chemistry, Centenary Museum building, Commercial Complex, Distance Education Programme and new gallery of University’s Swimming Pool.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Kumaraswamy referred to an earlier discussion he held with Vice-Chancellors of various universities of the State in Mysuru and urged academic experts to submit a report to him on the changes needed to improve higher education in the State. The government will take suitable decisions based on the suggestions made by the academic experts and implement them without losing much time, he assured.
He said higher education was witnessing a lot of changes the world over and claimed that large universities in a few parts of the world were on the verge of closure with many students resorting to studying from home. “In future, students may not come to colleges. They may study from home,” Mr. Kumaraswamy remarked.
National university status
Earlier, Vice-Chancellor Hemanth Kumar said the new campus will further boost Mysuru’s image as a ‘Mecca of Learning’. He hoped the Centre would respond to the appeal to accord national university status to the more than a century old University of Mysore.
The former Vice-Chancellor K.S. Rangappa, who also spoke on the occasion, said he had strived to introduce salient features of world class universities in UoM during his tenure at the helm.
Unfortunately, there was no response from the Centre to accord national university status to the University and bring it on a par with IITs and Central universities.
