THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The government will step in to resolve the dispute between state universities over distance education courses and the practice of allowing ‘private registration’ of students for undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
This, was after the Sree Narayana Guru Open University (SNGOU) objected to Calicut University kick-starting admission to distance education courses for which the former had obtained UGC approval. SNGOU had also urged MG University to stop ‘private registration’ for such courses.
As per the SNGOU Act passed by the state legislature, other state universities are barred from offering courses in distance education or ‘private registration’ mode.
Kerala University had brought out its admission notification for distance education courses this year excluding all the 22 courses offered by SNGOU. However, Calicut University’s list has nine courses for which SNGOU recently received UGC approval.
Higher Education Minister R Bindu told TNIE that the government will examine the issue in detail. “As per the State Open University Act, other universities are barred from offering distance education courses. However, as the open varsity was in a fledgling state, other state universities were allowed to offer distance education courses temporarily in the previous years,” she said.
“Now that SNGOU has begun functioning as a full-fledged varsity, it is clear that distance education courses offered by other universities will become invalid as per the Act,” the minister clarified. She said that all state universities were well aware of the situation. However, the government would step in as the admission process to distance education courses at Calicut University is currently underway and a lack of clarity on the future of such courses would affect hundreds of applicants.
Among the 12 distance learning courses notified by Calicut University for admission this year, three UG programmes and six PG programmes figure in the SNGOU list. If these are excluded, Calicut University will be left with only one UG course, BA Political Science, and two PG courses, MSc Mathematics and MA Political Science, in distance education mode.
Meanwhile, MG University sources said the varsity had no plans to stop ‘private registration’ as of now, as hundreds of students rely on that mode of education. “The Syndicate is yet to take a decision on the matter,” said a senior official of MG University.