Work on Central University of Karnataka to commence by July

Project management consultants and architectural consultants have been selected and agreements signed. Campus building constructions of the first phase were expected to begin soon, Vice Chancellor, A M Pathan told reporters.

The university, launched last year and temporarily functioning out of the Gulbarga University building was expected to have some of the administrative work and classes operational at the new premises by July next year, he said.

Around 620 acres of land at Kadaganchi-Suntanur villages on the Gulbarga-Waghdhari Inter state Highway in Aland have been identified by Karnataka government and handed over to the University for Campus Development.

The Central University of Karnataka is one of the 15 universisites that were set up during the eleventh plan period to increase access to quality higher education by people in less educationally developed areas which have a graduate enrolement ratio of less than national average of 11 per cent.

Gulbarga region was zeroed in for setting up the unversities as it was one of those with low graduate enrolement ratio, he said. The University which currently has 43 students enrolled in five ongoing courses expects the number to go up to 200 by 2011-12, he said.

Currently the university has 11 faculty members comprising those on deputation, invitation and contract basis. The univeristy is also in talks with three universities in Canada for designing a curriculum that matches international standards. Plans were afoot to have teachers from these Canadian faculties to come on short contracts to teach at the Karnataka central universities. Similary teachers from Karnataka Central Univeristy would be in Canada. A student exchange programme has also been planned, said Pathan.

Apart form one PG and five UG honors programmes launched, four more PG programmes--MBA, M.Com. MA Kannada, Literature and Culture and MSc (Geo-spatial applications in regional development) have been aprpoved and admission notification would be issued in April-May 2010.

Admissions to the university would be based through an All India entrance test, he said. The salient features of the university include, all courses being offered on choice based credit system, courses inter and multi-disciplianry in content, schools of studies sytem.

The students had the academic freedom to choose and design their course of study by picking up components of allied, elective, supportive courses apart from their core course.

The university would offer boys and girls hostel facilities, computer lab, library and Rs 3000 monthly scholarship to all M.Phil students. The University plans to launch the Science stream by 2012. The setting up of infrastructure was expected to be around Rs 144 crore till 2012.