17,348 candidates to get degrees at 20th convocation of KSOU in Mysuru

The 20^th annual convocation of Karnataka State Open University (KSOU), Mysuru will be held in Mysuru on March 27.

As many as 17,348 candidates — 6,402 male and 10,946 female — are eligible to receive degrees at the convocation, which will be held in the Convocation Hall in Muktagangotri campus at 11 a.m.

Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot, who is the Chancellor of the university, will preside over the convocation. Minister for Higher Education and Pro-chancellor Dr. M. C. Sudhakar will be present. Atul Kumar Tiwari, Secretary, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India, New Delhi, will deliver the convocation address.

Honorary doctorate for Minister Satish Jarkiholi, two others

Sharing details of the convocation at a press conference in Mysuru on March 26, Vice-Chancellor Sharanappa V. Halse said honorary doctorate will be conferred on Minister for Public Works Satish L. Jarkiholi, C. M. Irfanulla Shariff, Chairman of Indian Education Society, Chitradurga, and Dr. Dakshayini S. Appa, Chairman of Sharanabasaveshwara Vidyavardhaka Sangha, Kalaburagi.

The V-C said 41 PhDs are being awarded this year, which, according to him, is the highest in recent convocations. Among the PhD awardees, 24 are men and 17 are women. In total, 54 gold medals and 58 cash prizes will be presented to outstanding students.

Registrar (Evaluation) H. Vishwanath said 25,109 candidates, including 15,409 women and 9,700 men, attended the examination in the last academic year, and 7,869 candidates cleared the examination, securing 68.92% results, and becoming eligible to receive the degrees.

The highest number of PhDs has been awarded in economics, which is nine, while the lowest is in English and Food Science, which is one. The details of PhD awardees are — Kannada 5, History 4, Political Science 6, Commerce 7, Management 6, and Microbiology 2.

Under the School of Languages, a total of 6,350 students — 2,484 men and 3,866 women — are eligible to receive degrees.

In the School of Social Sciences, 3,949 candidates, including 1,503 men and 2,446 women, are eligible to receive degrees. In the School of Commerce, 2,472 candidates, including 741 men and 1,731 women, are eligible to receive degrees while in the School of Management, the number of candidates eligible for the award of degrees is 1,172, including 488 men and 684 women.

In the School of Education, a total of 495 candidates, including 299 women and 196 men, are eligible for degrees. In the School of Science, in which there are around 17 academic programmes, including UG and PG, 2,869 candidates are eligible to receive the degrees at the convocation. Among them, 1,903 are women and 966 are men.

10,000 admissions so far

Responding to the number of admissions in the January cycle this year, the Vice-Chancellor said nearly 10,000 candidates have taken admissions for various courses and more admissions are expected in the cycle. In the last two years, 89,000 candidates had taken admissions.

Defends doctorate to Minister

In response to a question on the award of honorary doctorate, Prof. Halse defended the university’s decision to award the doctorate on Minister Satish Jarkiholi, saying that the honour is in recognition of his social service. “The list of names recommended for the award of honorary doctorate we received was sent to the Governor’s office. A three-member committee, comprising V-Cs from Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka, finalised the three names for the award,” he replied.

To another question, the V-C said, “We had received an application from a board of management member for considering awarding honorary doctorate on Mr. Jarkiholi for his social service activities in Belagavi. Since KSOU has jurisdiction across the State, we can consider work done in the entire State for consideration of the award of doctorate.”