An outlay of ₹30 crore for procuring land and major allocations for the upgradation of study centres and introduction of diploma and certificate courses figure prominently in the Budget of Sreenarayanaguru Open University (SGOU) for the financial year 2024-25.
The annual Budget that envisages a revenue of ₹89.27 crore and expenditure of ₹100.63 crore was presented by Syndicate finance standing committee convener Biju K. Mathew on Friday.
The university plans to start certificate and diploma courses for providing services in the fields of palliative care and geriatric care along with facilities for learning foreign language.
While diploma programmes will be started in Artificial Intelligence, Data Science and Multimedia Production Tools, the university will conduct more diploma/certificate courses in computer-based accounting fields with the help of technology for dropouts and self-employed. A sum of ₹2.93 crore has been allocated for this purpose.
The university has set aside ₹2 crore for on-screen valuation system along with ₹7.98 crore for conducting examinations, evaluation, and question bank preparation. While ₹13.42 crore has been earmarked for the excellence of study centres of the university, ₹50 lakh goes for the reprographic centre and ₹72 lakh will be used for establishing a world-class library.
The university has announced Oppam, a project to construct houses for economically backward students who excel in academics, with ₹1.12 crore allocated for the construction of 14 houses under this scheme.
New academic programmes, including Library Science, MBA, MCA, B Ed BSW and MSW, get an allocation of ₹30 lakh and ₹8 lakh has been earmarked for UGC approved B.A Nano Entrepreneurship.
As part of focussing on joint ventures, new programmes will be launched in collaboration with Additional Skill Acquisition Programme (ASAP) and Factories & Boilers.
The first art festival of the university will be held in March and ₹30 lakh has been earmarked for the event. The Budget also have allocations for sports meet, personal counselling unit, internal complaint cell, students help desk/ grievances redressal cell, and making the university differently-abled friendly.
