Cuttack: The new vice-chancellor of the Ravenshaw University, Ishan Patro, said on Monday that he would shortly review the professional self-financing courses to ensure that they are "self supportive".

Addressing his first press conference after assuming office, Patro said the self-financing courses found to be not serving any purpose for the students after spending a decent amount of money would be discontinued.

"Instead innovative courses will be introduced to ensure that students pursuing them are able earn their living or to do something of there own and generate jobs," Patro said. "My focus will be to make students ready for the job market," he said.

Patro, who was working as a professor and head of department of zoology at Jiwaji University in Madhya Pradesh, took over the charge from Prakash Chandra Sarangi on December 31. At present, the university offers self-financing courses like Bachelor in Business Administration, Information Science and Telecommunication, Information Technology and Management and Hotel & Hospitality Administration.

Initially, the university had started running these self-financing courses on Public-Private-Participation mode by signing MoUs with service providers. But, it discontinued the practice in 2014 adhering to University Grants Commission norms.

The new vice-chancellor said that he would focus on creating conducive environment for more research activities. "Besides, I will conduct a thorough study to know about the needs of the varsity and will hold discussion with all stakeholders, including students, to know their opinion on the issues," Patro said.

"Ravenshaw has a history and legacy attached to it and my efforts will be to propagate it further. Apart from the development of infrastructure, my focus will also be on capacity building and knowledge expansion of the students," the new vice-chancellor said.