Kannada and Culture Minister Umashree and former Higher Education minister C T Ravi may need a bit of luck and all the marks they can get in their academic pursuit.
Both had applied for a PhD in Political Science and have managed to score 43 and 56 marks, respectively, in the entrance test conducted by the Karnataka State Open University (KSOU).
With 95 candidates in the race for the 12 seats available in the Political Science department, the two will now have to bank heavily on their scores in the viva voce to make the cut for a doctoral programme.
Umashree had got her bachelor’s and post-graduate degrees through distance education.
KSOU Registrar (Evaluation) K J Suresh said that about 1,000 candidates had appeared for the entrance examination for 220 PhD seats across different streams offered by the varsity.
Fifty per cent of the total seats are reserved for candidates who have passed the National Eligibility Test (NET)/State Level Eligibility Test (SLET), conducted by UGC and state governments. The remaining seats are allotted to the other candidates.
The candidates are required to answer objective type questions for 100 marks in the entrance examination.
They will also have to face a viva voce for 20 marks, that will be held in the next 15 days.
The KSOU registrar said that there is nothing like pass or fail marks in the qualifying examination, and all those topping the list and scoring highest marks in viva voce will be selected for the PhD programmes.