University Vice-Chancellor Prof. Sadhu Charan Panda has said that the programmes are being introduced in view of increasing interest in the rich Buddhist and Jain heritage of the State among scholars and researchers.

Both Jainism and Buddhism had flourished in Orissa over 2000 years ago and a number of recent excavations have proved that Buddhism had tremendous impact in the State.The Vice Chancellor hopes that introduction of the two new courses would open new avenues for the students. Each course will have 30 seats.

The University has also announced admission into post graduate courses in six more subjects- culture studies, Orissan studies, socio-linguistics, South and South-East Asian studies, cultural heritage and conservation and tourism and hospitality service.

While the self-financing six-month diploma in Vedic studies introduced last year will be dropped, tourism studies will no more remain self-financing.

The last date for sale of application forms has been fixed to July 28 and admission will be over by the second week of August.