The Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) will soon launch online engineering courses in 12 to 15 disciplines and they will not have any territorial jurisdiction. Students from across the world can enroll for the online courses and appear for the examination from their place itself.
VTU Vice Chancellor Prof S Vidyashankar told reporters on Thursday that the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), New Delhi, had completed the inspection. “We are awaiting receipt of no objection certificate for the commencement of courses. Online courses will commence from this academic year itself.”
Study material will be available online. Lectures too will be uploaded on portal to which registered students will have access. Fees when compared to other universities will be lesser. Provisions will also be made for online interaction with students as per the needs of the courses, the VC said.
“We have planned to introduce about 12 to 15 courses for the online education and details would be made known soon,” Vidyashankar added.
Fake certificates
On 51 students getting admissions into different engineering colleges based on fake certificates of National Institute of Open Schooling, Delhi, the VC said, “During the verification of documents, we came across fake certificates as the QR code took us to a different link which was fake. Admissions of the 51 students have been cancelled and they have not sought to know any reasons.”
“We shall also verify documents of previous 3 years. We have written to the government to take action against these 51 students. We have also issued notices to the colleges where the students have availed admissions on the basis of fake certificates.”
The Executive Council of the varsity has formed a committee to inquire into admissions obtained on the basis of fake certificates. “If the certificates are proved to be illegal, then the degrees issued to the students will be withdrawn and we shall not succumb to any pressure,” the VC said.
Vidyashankar said that everyday VTU receives documents for verification and on an average one fake engineering course certificate comes to the fore. We write to the verifying agency that the certificate was fake and it was left for them to take action.