Cuttack, Aug. 25: Plans to introduce virtual classes for students of the School of International Studies at Ravenshaw University here have been put on hold.

“Though we had planned to start online classes for the students of the School of International Studies from this year, we have now postponed it to next year,” said university vice-chancellor B.C. Tripathy.

However, regular post-graduate classes at the school, which was launched this year, will begin from tomorrow.

Tripathy said they were exploring the possibilities of collaborating with top universities, such as Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and the University of Delhi, for the virtual lectures. He also informed The Telegraph that the decision of starting virtual classes through video-conferencing would take care of the faculty crisis at the varsity to some extent.

Senior professors from renowned universities in the country and abroad, are being contacted to deliver lectures and take online classes. “Our aim is to ensure that there is no dearth of information and scholarly articles for the students. Adequate steps are being taken to provide quality education at the varsity,” said international studies course co-ordinator Niranjan Barik.

The university started an M.Phil. course in international studies with 16 seats last year. However, the two-year postgraduate course, introduced this year with 36 seats, focuses on inter-continental and inter-country relations in a total of 20 papers on issues such as political thought, India’s foreign policy, South Asia, Southeast Asia, international law and the European Union.