The Mysuru-based Karnataka State Open University (KSOU), the State’s only Open University, has now got the exclusive right of running courses under open distance learning (ODL) mode with the passage of the Karnataka State Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2020 in the Legislative Assembly.
This means the conventional universities in the State that were offering the correspondence courses all these years have to discontinue them. The KSOU hopes that the move is expected to expand its reach and attract more students within its jurisdiction.
The KSOU had taken a strong exception to the conventional universities offering ODL courses and sought the government’s intervention of giving it the sole right of running distance education programmes in the State. Early this year, the State Cabinet had taken the decision in KSOU’s favour with the intention of helping the university expand its student base besides providing exclusive self-learning materials to the students.
Since inception more than two decades ago, the KSOU had been seeking the right on the ODL courses when the conventional universities, including the University of Mysore, started offering distance education courses and argued with the Department of Higher Education for the sole rights on ODL programmes considering the purpose of its establishment.
The KSOU had even accused the State universities of breaching their territorial jurisdiction for offering ODL courses beyond their territory with mutual NOCs availed from other conventional universities in the State for running the correspondence courses.
Citing the example of Maharashtra, the KSOU had claimed that only Open universities were allowed to offer ODL courses in Maharashtra following a notification by the government there. A similar amendment to the existing acts in Karnataka too was sought for ensuring the rights of the university. This was finally done in the State.
After its recognition was restored by the UGC, the University has been striving to revive its lost charm, and over 31 courses now being offered with the UGC’s nod. It has brought various reforms, including contactless admissions making all admission procedures online and transparent. The government’s move conferring exclusive rights of ODL courses to the KSOU was welcomed here.
Thanking the government, KSOU Registrar Lingaraj Gandhi said the university has become the only institution of higher learning to run the correspondence courses with the amendment to the Karnataka Universities Act. “The demand for this right was not new since the KSOU had been making appeals for the exclusivity in its courses being the only Open University in the State. Today, its long wish has been fulfilled, thereby helping its growth and reach,” he felt.
