| Sreenarayanaguru Open University | |
| Vice Chancellor: | Jagathy Raj V. P. |
| Country: | India |
| Campus: | Rural |
Sreenarayanaguru Open University (SGOU) is a state open university located in Kollam, Kerala, established in 2020 by The Sreenarayanaguru Open University Act, 2021 (Kerala Act No 1 of 2021). The first open university in Kerala, it was approved by the University Grants Commission (UGC) in 2021.
The establishment of the university aimed to unify all the distance education courses offered by various state-run universities, such as the Kannur University, Mahatma Gandhi University, University of Calicut, and University of Kerala, into a single university. However, University of Calicut and University of Kerala continues to provide distance education for programmes that are not provided by SGOU.
The university was established by the promulgation of an 45th Ordinance of 2020 to that effect by Governor of Kerala on 25 September 2020[1] and was inaugurated by Pinarayi Vijayan, chief minister of Kerala, on 2 October 2020 in a function held at Kollam. The university has been named after Narayana Guru and has its headquarters at Kureepuzha in Kollam.[2] [3] P M Mubarak Pasha was appointed as the first vice-chancellor and S V Sudheer as the first pro-vice-chancellor of the university.[4] The university was approved by the University Grants Commission (UGC) in 2021.[5]
In November 2022, the Kerala government amended the Act to permit state public universities to offer open and distance learning programmes not provided by the SGOU.[6] This amendment followed a 2022 interim order from the Kerala High Court, which had prohibited the University of Calicut and the University of Kerala from offering programs already available through SGOU. After the order, these universities began offering non-overlapping programmes. In 2023, the Kerala High Court reaffirmed its initial order.[7]
The university shall have the following schools of study: