Entrance to the Utkal University of Culture. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, July 31: Three institutes in the capital have sought affiliation from the Utkal University of Culture here to start new courses from this academic session.

Of the three, the Asian School of Business Management (ASBM) and Vinaya Foundation have proposed to introduce a two-year masters degree in event management. The third institute, Sambad School of Media and Culture, is waiting for the university’s nod to begin a two-year post graduation degree in theatre art and crafts. All three have applied for permission to conduct the course from this year with 60 seats.

“They have already got a no-objection certificate from the state government to begin the courses. A team of university officials would visit the institutes this week. Affiliation would be granted to them subject to fulfilment of conditions in terms of infrastructure, faculty strength and library facilities as laid down by the university,” Amiya Kumar Pattanayak, vice-chancellor of Utkal University of Culture, said.

He said the university has no problem in granting affiliation to the institutes since they have applied for courses related to culture. “However, it has to be done in conformation with statutory conditions. If they meet the requirements, they would be given affiliation within a fortnight. Thereafter, they can go about their admission process and start classes,” Pattanayak said.

Talking about the employment prospects of the two courses, the vice-chancellor said: “Theatre art is an innovative course. With a large number of television soaps on Oriya channels and growing popularity of jatras (mobile theatre), opportunities in this field are opening up,” he said.

The concept of event management is also becoming very popular in the state, Pattanayak said. “People are willing to pay and get their work done under expert planning and execution for big and small events like marriages, birthdays, youth festivals, seminars, cultural programmes and so on,” he said.

The Utkal University of Culture is also planning to introduce an executive masters in social work (MSW) course soon. “The board of management has decided to start the course. But it is still in the planning stage. We are working out the logistics and hopefully, we would launch it from the coming session,” Pattanayak said.