BHUBANESWAR: Only a year after being accorded university status, the Khallikote University is back to square one. It had got unitary varsity status in February last year but will now be amalgamated with the Berhampur University (BU).
Issuing a notification in this regard on Tuesday, the Higher Education department stated that the Khallikote University shall cease to exist after September 30 this year. Prior to the merger, it will complete all UG and PG examinations, backlog tests and publish results before the above mentioned date. The students will be transferred to the rolls of Berhampur University where their previously earned credits or marks/grades shall remain valid.
The varsity currently has 90 students on the rolls in seven departments. The notification read that after September 30, research students shall get transferred to Berhampur University with pre-doctoral credits while their registration date and thesis supervisors will remain the same. All the research projects of Khallikote University funded by either Odisha government or Centre shall be transferred to Berhampur University.
While Khallikote University cannot make any fresh admission of students, Berhampur University will not admit any new students to the courses currently offered by the former. The Berhampur University has been asked to make a detailed study of the need for continuance of the existing courses of Khallikote varsity and take a suitable decision for the next academic year.
Even as Higher Education department authorities could not be reached, Vice-Chancellor of the university PK Mohanty said he has not received any communication from the department so far. One of the reasons behind the amalgamation, Mohanty said, might be the expenditure that the State government has to incur every month towards paying the rent for the university.
If sources are to be believed, the move is aimed at saving an amount of Rs 1 crore that is annually spent on rent of the university. After being accorded cluster university tag, the varsity was operating from a rented accommodation and the State was paying Rs 10 lakh towards rent every month.