Karnataka State Open University to have its first regional centre in north India

New Delhi, July 3 : Taking education to masses living in the northern parts of India, the Karnataka State Open University (KSOU) is opening its first regional centre outside Karnataka in the national capital at Pitampura in north west Delhi.

KSOU presently has six regional centers in and around Karnataka.

The opening of the regional centre at Pitam Pura area will benefit all those students, pursuing or eager to take up courses at the university through distance education.

One of the main conveniences for students will be that the centre will bridge the distance problems faced by students for various enquiries and taking up exams. They will no more need to travel to Karnataka for the university related matters.

It will also help many students in case of job transfer and other reason to this part of India.

According to Karnataka State Open University's Vice Chancellor Professor B.A. Viveka Rai, the university hopes the number of students admitted to the KSOU will rise this year.

"Presently, there are about 60,000 students enrolled with the KSOU. We expect this number to be more than 100,000 this academic year. About 100 courses including vocational and professional courses apart from the conventional Bachelors and Master Degree course are on offer," said Professor B.A. Viveka Rai, the Vice Chancellor of KSOU.

"We want to this regional centre to give a new dimension to distance learning education. There has been demand for Delhi and neighbouring States from various professional and especially Defence people," he added.

The admission to the new academic session for various courses will start by July end and will remain open till November.

Asked if this regional centre would be just another education centre offering correspondence courses, Prof. Rai said: "This Open Distance learning is not any correspondence course, which is the old method. In fact out distance learning option includes the self-instructional material, student support service. Also there is always continuous contact interaction between the institution and the learner. We will appreciate feed back from the learner through assignments."

In Karnataka, the KSOU has about 40 diploma and certificate programmes apart from regular degree courses. These include course in Real Estate Management, Bachelors' in IT, Porfolion Mgmt and many others. Presently, the KSOU is not offering any course in Doctoral degree.

"For admission purposes, students can deliver their documents at any convenient place of Delhi. Our representative will collect it for student's convenience. Once there are enough number of students, contact classes and examination centers will be organized here," said Usha Bharatadri, Regional Director of the Regional Centre at Pitampura in North West Delhi.

"We are running study centre at Pitam Pura for eight years for Information Technology programmes. Now we will be running all the other courses offered by the university after opening of the regional centre," said Major Sushil Goel, Trustee of the Virtual Education Trust, collaborator of KSOU for IT programmes in Delhi.

Karnataka State Open University (KSOU), Mysore, was established on June 1, 1996 with the assent of the Governor of Karnataka as a full-fledged university in the Academic Year 1996.

As per the KSOU Act of 1992, Karnataka State Open University is empowered to establish, maintain or recognize colleges, Regional Centres and Study Centres at such places in Karnataka and may also open outside Karnataka at such places as it felt deemed fit. By Sandeep Datta

ANI