UGC panel visits open university

A three-member University Grants Commission (UGC) panel comprising of H.P. Dixit, A.S. Nagaraj, and Ajay Pandit, held a meeting with officials of the Karnataka State Open University on Friday. The team is believed to have examined certain records in the university.

The team, which is on a two-day visit to the KSOU, held discussions with KSOU officials including Registrar (Evaluation) K.J. Suresh, Dean (Academic) Deve Gowda, and deans and heads of various departments of the university. The committee is expected to meet the members of the board of management, including Vice-Chancellor of Mysore University K.S. Rangappa, and it will visit different departments in the university.

Recognition withdrawn

The UGC had earlier withdrawn its recognition to academic programmes run by the KSOU under the Open Distance Learning (ODL) mode. The KSOU, in collaboration with private institutions across the country and abroad, had been offering programmes through distance learning which reportedly flouted norms of the UGC and the erstwhile Distance Education Council of the Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi. Taking note of this, recognition had been withdrawn by the UGC. Later, the KSOU appealed to the UGC to give recognition saying that it comply with the commission’s regulations. Withdrawal of recognition to the University had jeopardised the education career of thousands of students across the country.

Students protest

A group of students of KSOU on learning the panel visit, staged demonstrations urging the committee to give an opportunity for them to meet and explain the ‘misdeeds’ of the university, and how their precious time, and money had been wasted owing to the callousness of the university. The panel reportedly refused to meet the students, promising that it would meet them on Saturday to hear their grievances, a senior official said.

Officials of the University refused to comment about the proceedings of the meeting held on Friday.