Sambalpur: The third batch of the civil services coaching classes at Gangadhar Meher University was inaugurated by vice-chancellor Atanu Kumar Pati.

Sixty students have been selected for the class from 170 applicants through an entrance test conducted on August 24. Pati advised the students to properly understand the pattern of civil services examinations and the syllabus. He also told them to be serious, focussed and strategise properly to clear top examinations such as the Union Public Service Commission exams.

Varsity co-ordinator Hema Kumar Nayak explained how regular classes were organised and tests taken every third day at the coaching centre. The university will arrange expert resource persons from outside Sambalpur and even outside Odisha, he said.

Of the 60 seats, 39 per cent are reserved for SC/ST categories.

While the fee for general category students is Rs 2,000, that for reserved categories is Rs 1000 for the four-month course.

"The course is funded by the state government. The university has set up a high quality library on campus and procures magazines and journals from various parts of the country and abroad," deputy registrar Uma Charan Pati told The Telegraph.

The students are mostly from final-year postgraduate and undergraduate courses. Four students from the varsity have already qualified for the Odisha Administrative Service examination, he said.

Similarly, the second batch of the certificate of proficiency in French language also started classes.

Noted French teacher Koulasi Pale, former professor of Jawaharlal Nehru University, has joined as head of department.

Twenty students have taken admission into the certificate course.

With the increasing demand for foreign languages, the university has decided to open a degree course from January 2019.