Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Statute will be sent to Governor H.R. Bhardwaj for his consent

Mysore: The University of Mysore may offer correspondence courses from the next academic year (2010-2011).

The university’s Academic Council, during its meeting here on Monday, approved the draft of the Statute for Establishment of the Directorate of Correspondence Courses and Continuing Education, which paves the way for the university to re-introduce correspondence courses that were discontinued after the formation of the Karnataka State Open University (KSOU). The statute will be sent to Governor H.R. Bhardwaj, who is the Chancellor, for his consent. The Statute Review Committee was headed by P. Eshwar Bhat.

Incidentally, the University of Mysore was the first conventional university in the country to start correspondence courses way back in 1969. However, the courses had to be withdrawn following the establishment of the KSOU, which incidentally functions on the same campus.

Vice-Chancellor V.G. Talawar said, “The university has the responsibility of taking higher education to many, and reintroduction of the correspondence courses is a step in that direction.”

While a member took objection to the reintroduction of such courses, another member suggested that they “go slow” on the proposal following the Centre’s proposed move to develop the University of Mysore as a “model university”.

Prof. Talawar said that the debate on the issue had been going on in the Academic Council and Syndicate for four years. It was not appropriate to delay it further since the draft had been prepared, he said.

The Vice-Chancellor announced that the “University of Mysore Vision 2025”, the draft document that suggests steps to be taken to make the university one among the 150 best universities in the world, would be released by the Governor on February 10. The former Vice-Chancellor of Mangalore University M.I. Savadatti headed the higher committee that prepared the draft.