ONLY INSTITUTES WITH TOP NAAC RANK CAN OFFER DISTANCE PROGS

NEW DELHI: To regulate distance education institutes in the country, the government is all set to make “quality” as one of the major criteria for giving approvals to such institutes.

Human resource development ministry officials said institutes and universities with top NAAC ranking will be able to offer distance education programmes and those who do not have such rankings will be given a year’s time to get the ranking.

Currently, institutes need merely accreditation to get the approval for the grant of degree at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels through open and distance learning mode. An institute might now need a rating of 3.25 from National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) to be eligible.

A senior HRD official said the UGC will notify these changes in the existing University Grants Commission (Open and Distance Learning) Regulations, 2017, that were notified last year by it.

“Quality has become a major issue as a number of institutes are offering courses without good infrastructure or quality faculty. This new clause of having a high rating from NAAC will ensure only quality institutes will be able to offer the courses. This will ensure students are able to get good education even through distance education mode,” said the HRD official.

Earlier, UGC had laid down the minimum standards of instruction for the grant of degree at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels through open and distance learning mode.

As per the UGC’S (Credit Framework for Online Learning Courses through SWAYAM) Regulations, 2016, students will be allowed to take up to 20% of the courses in a semester through online learning courses/massive open online courses.