PGD in Rural Management by distance education

BANGALORE  The Directorate of Correspondence Courses and Distance Education (DCC&DE) of Bangalore University has introduced a new Postgraduate Diploma (PGD) in Rural Management from this academic year. Bangalore University is the only university which is offering such a meticulous course on the subject after Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). “The course is based on the one introduced by IGNOU. Our course will specifically  concentrate on rural regions to sensitise students about rural development,” said Dr Murthy T H, Director, Centre for Rural Development Studies. The one-year PGD in Rural Management is the result of a regular Rural Management course started in BU last year. “The response for the regular course was very impressive. After consulting experts from the fields of agriculture and management, we decided to roll out this correspondence course. The objective here is to  make youth better managers of rural resources. Academic preparation of the youth is what we want to achieve,” said Dr Murthy. The course, with a fee of `1,500, was initially targeted at Panchayat functionaries who are not adequately trained to communicate with public and their awareness about schemes is low. “We found this in all the 16 Panchayats that were studied in the State. However, the government said it was not possible to depute officers for this course as it would hold up work,” he said.