CHENNAI: The Gandhigram Rural Institute, a deemed university, will launch four MBA programmes, a B.Tech degree in habitat and a clutch of post-graduate diploma courses, including one in e-governance, in the coming academic year.

Batches of 30 students will be admitted to the MBA in cooperative management, rural project management, small business management and rural industries management.

T. Karunakaran, the Vice-Chancellor, told presspersons on Wednesday that the courses were being introduced in view of the anticipated demand for professionals to manage rural projects.

Hinting that the Government's role would become that of a facilitator of development projects, he said as a result of the enhanced role for non-government organisations, the demand for professionally qualified persons would increase. The State Government had recently awarded a project to the Institute for chalking out plans, primarily focussed on employment generation, for all the 306 panchayats in Dindigul district.

The other new courses are: B.Tech (habitat) with specialisation in hazard resistant structures; B.A. in Gandhian Social Work; and P.G. diplomas in hazard resistant structures, video presentation, multimedia, e-governance and computer assisted language teaching.

The Institute is issuing the applications. They can be downloaded from its web site, www.ruraluniv.org. The last date is June 1. The courses will begin on July 1.

Dr. Karunakaran said People's Educational Wing, an extension of the Institute's distance education arm, would launch courses in modern commercial cultivation, rural industries and entrepreneurship, cost-effective house construction, self-help groups and, women's development and human rights.

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