In a breather to PhD aspirants, the Academic Council of University of Mysore has given its nod for conducting the mandatory coursework for doctoral studies online only this year in view of the prevailing pandemic situation. The coursework is usually done offline.
The University said it has plans to conduct coursework offline as well but the option of choosing the mode was left to the candidates. However, the examination after the coursework would be conducted in the offline mode.
Vice-Chancellor G. Hemantha Kumar, who chaired the meeting on Tuesday, told The Hindu that several PhD aspirants had urged him to conduct coursework in online mode since they were unable to attend it in offline mode in view of COVID-19.
“Some foreign students, who had enrolled for doctoral studies, had also requested him for online coursework as they were unable to reach the country due to travel restrictions. In view of these issues, we decided to conduct the coursework online only this year,” he said.
The coursework for the current year in all departments should have started in March but the pandemic caused a delay.
He said a proposal would be sent to the government seeking its nod for establishing a Centre for Buddhist Studies in the University.
