E-Paper
Punjab open university begins admissions to first academic session
Established in Patiala to commemorate the 550th birth anniversary of the Sikhism founder Guru Nanak, it is the state’s first open university
Jagat Guru Nanak Dev Punjab State Open University kicked off admissions to eight certificate courses on Thursday.
Established in Patiala to commemorate the 550th birth anniversary of the Sikhism founder Guru Nanak, it is the first open university of the state. To highlight its mission of equipping the youth with skill and knowledge, the university chose World Youth Skills Day to launch admissions to its first academic session.
Addressing a press conference, founder vice-chancellor Karamjeet Singh said need-based innovative programmes ranging from technologically driven courses in cyber security, digital marketing, artificial intelligence and its applications, and creativity and innovation in school education to progressive courses in values and learnings of Sikhism, rural management, effective business and social communication and science of happiness are being offered at the university.
“The certificate courses are of six-month duration, but the learner can take up to two years to complete a course. For the first academic session (2021-22), a very nominal fee of ₹4,000-6,000 has been fixed,” he said.
The V-C said the freedom offered in the form of pace of learning, transfer of credits, eligibility for enrolment and age of entry makes the courses suitable not only for new learners but also for in-service professionals and entrepreneurs. The degrees earned through the distance education mode from this university will be on a par with courses done through the regular mode of education from traditional universities, he said.
Highlighting the prompt assistance offered to students across the state, registrar Dharam Singh Sandhu said six learner support centres have already been set up at government colleges in Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Ludhiana and Patiala and at Lyallpur Khalsa College, Jalandhar, and the process is underway to set up five more in the districts of Bathinda, Sangrur, Mohali, Ferozpur and Faridkot.
These centres will advise, counsel, provide vocational guidance, hands on experience, library services and render any other assistance required by the learners during their course of study, he said.
To apply and for more details, students can visit the university website: https://psou.ac.in/. For any queries, they can call on 9463082523 between 10am and 5pm on weekdays or write to admission2021@psou.ac.in.
