New Delhi: The Karnataka government has announced that they will ensure that there will be no disparity in employment opportunities for the students who have studied in open universities, said Dr CN Ashwatha Narayana, Minister for Higher Education.

The minister for higher education gave an inaugural address of the seminar on ‘Qualitative Reforms in Regulatory Framework to Promote Online Digital Learning (ODL) and OL (Online Learning) Education in the wake of Pandemic and NEP-2020′ in the All India Open Universities Vice-Chancellors’ Meet organized by KSOU. 

In his inaugural address, he said that the state government will not permit any apartheid towards students who pursue their degrees in open universities.

He stated this while Prof Vidyashankar, Vice-Chancellor, KSOU, apprised the minister that in recent recruitment by Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF), there was a clause stating the ineligibility for candidates who had pursued their degrees from open universities.

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Narayana said that an equal scope for degrees of UGC-recognized open universities is similar to other universities. Any confusion regarding the issue will be resolved by discussing it with the Chief Minister. 

He further stated that the university grants commission, UGC should make certain relaxations to permit open universities to offer online education. Further, these Open Universities should introduce new courses in undergraduate and postgraduate courses in order to offer education to a greater mass.

The minister illustrated that the educational institutions should work accordingly to earn credibility in the public domain since it's essential to promote online education if the goal of 50 percent Gross Enrolment Ratio is required to be realized in higher education.

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Further, It is a difficult task for open universities to upgrade the syllabus on a regular basis and it involves a greater chunk of money to set up the needed infrastructure. 

Taking this into account, the UGC should release the developmental grant for Open Varsities on a yearly basis. Further, Open Universities have not been able to meet the requisite NAAC criteria due to the pandemic since their activities are hampered for two to three years and UGS should look into this issue, he added.

Dr Avichal Kapoor, Joint Secretary of UGC who was also present in the inaugural session notified that currently learning 40 per cent content of the syllabus through online learning is allowed as compared to the earlier 20 per cent.

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