KSOU Waits for Approval From UGC to Begin Offering Online Courses; Read Full Report


The Karnataka State Open University (KSOU), Karnataka's only state-run open university, is preparing to enter the online education market with the launch of 11 online courses.

KSOU

Vice-Chancellor S Vidyashankar stated in a briefing that, "We have applied to the Union Grants Commission for permission to start offering online courses. If the UGC approves, we will begin offering the courses in July ", he added.

All major universities in Karnataka, including the University of Mysore (UOM), are now offering a variety of online courses. All of these universities launched online courses after the Karnataka state government prohibited them from offering any distance learning courses and granted exclusive rights to KSOU.

"At this stage, we hope to launch 11 courses in online mode, including BCA, MA(Economics), MA(Kannada), MA(Hindi), MA(English), M.Com, MBA, M.Sc(IT), B.Sc(IT), and M.Sc(Computer Science)."

"According to UGC regulations, only distance mode courses can be offered online," Vidyashankar added.

"KSOU's proposal for launching new programmes in online mode does not require a top-three NIRF rank or a NAAC 'A' grade, as traditional universities do for running online courses." Because we are an open university, the UGC can directly grant permission based on our project proposal," said Registrar Lingaraj Gandhi.

Previously, KSOU received a positive response from students for the January cycle admissions for a variety of courses. In the January cycle of KSOU, approximately 8,500 candidates applied for admission to various courses.