BENGALURU: Though the Karnataka State Open University (KSOU), Mysuru, got back its UGC affiliation after three years of wrangling, the response from candidates for its courses for the academic year 2018-19 has not been great.
After getting the affiliation, the university had invited applications for 17 courses, but according to the data, it received just 8,395 applications till date. This number was around 40,000 before it was disaffiliated.
The university authorities had been expecting at least 20,000 admissions this year. They, however, are confident of reaching at least 10,000 by the last date of admissions on October 20.
According to KSOU, in the academic year 2012-13, it received 41,000 admissions to 68 courses. So far, the applications received this academic year are for 17 non-technical programmes that were approved by UGC in the first phase. Following this, the university appealed to the commission to increase the number of courses and received permission to include 14 other programmes. The university will invite applications for these additional courses in the second phase which will commence in January 2019.
KSOU Vice-Chancellor Prof D Shivalingaiah said, "We were expecting at least 15,000 to 20,000 admissions for the courses as it reopened after three years. We are requesting UGC to extend the last date for a few more days."
