Will ensure no disparity in opportunities for students of open universities: CN Ashwatha Narayana

Team Udayavani, Feb 22, 2022, 8:29 AM IST

Bengaluru: Minister for Higher Education Dr CN Ashwatha Narayana said that the state government will ensure that there is no disparity in employment opportunities for those who have studied in open universities.

In his inaugural address of the seminar on ‘Qualitative Reforms in Regulatory Framework to Promote Online Digital Learning (ODL) and OL (Online Learning) Education in the wake of Pandemic and NEP-2020′ in the All India Open Universities Vice-Chancellors’ Meet organized by the Karnataka State Open University (KSOU), the minister said that the state government will not allow for any apartheid towards students who pursue in open universities.

He assured this while Prof Vidyashankar, Vice-Chancellor, KSOU, apprised the minister that in recent recruitment by Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF), there was a clause mentioning ineligibility for candidates who had studied in open universities.

“There should be equal scope for degrees of UGC-recognized open universities similar to other universities. Any confusion regarding this will be resolved by discussing with the Chief Minister,” Narayana said.

He further opined that the UGC should make certain relaxations to allow open universities to offer online education. Further, Open Universities should introduce new courses in undergraduate and post-graduate courses in order to offer education to greater mass.

The minister emphasized that educational institutions should work in such a way to earn credibility in the public domain. It is necessary to promote online education if the goal of 50 per cent Gross Enrolment Ration needs to be realized in higher education.

It is a challenging task for open universities to update the syllabus on a regular basis and it involves a greater chunk of money to set up the needed infrastructure. Considering this, UGC should release the developmental grant for Open Varsities on yearly basis. Further, Open Varsities have not been able to fulfill NAAC criteria due to the pandemic since their activities are hampered for two to three years and UGS should look into this issue, he stated.

Dr Avichal Kapoor, Joint Secretary of UGC who was also present in the event informed that at present learning 40 per cent content of the syllabus through online learning is permitted as compared to the earlier 20 per cent.

(With inputs from ANI)