BHUBANESWAR: The Higher Education department has decided to create teaching and non-teaching posts in the Odisha State Open University to help the institute get financial aid from the University Grants Commission (UGC).
At a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Pradeep Jena recently, it was decided that 43 teaching posts and 14 non-teaching posts will be created in the university. As per the UGC mandate, an open university should have at least three faculty members in each department if offering only PG and in the case of both UG and PG, it should have five faculty members.
The faculty members will be selected through OPSC and non-teaching staff through the State Selection Board and for this purpose, the Odisha State Open University Act, 2014, will be changed accordingly.
Similarly, it has been decided that to make the university self-sufficient, the state government will help it by providing a corpus fund of Rs 15 crore per annum for three consecutive years.
After three years, no funds will be provided to the university. The university shall continue to run UG, PG courses with its existing three schools offering nine programmes.