UGC issues guidelines on online, distance education courses

CHENNAI: The higher educational institutions will have to function under the stricter guidelines issued by the University of Grants Commission (UGC) to conduct online programmes and distance learning courses.

There are 13 State-run universities and 20 deemed to be universities in Tamil Nadu, which provide distance learning programme for students. More than four lakh students are studying in these universities.

Following reports that the standard of education provided by some of the universities were poor, the UGC came out with stringent guidelines if these institutions were to offer online and distance education programme.

To obtain permission to conduct online courses under the new guidelines, an institution should have a National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) score of 3.36 and above, or should rank in the top 100 university category of the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) besides getting prior approval from the UGC, sources from the Commission said.

The higher education institutions can start a maximum of three Under Graduate (UG) programmes and ten Post Graduate (PG) programmes with the approval of its statutory authorities and in strict compliance with the provisions of the regulations.

Also, the NAAC and NIRF ranking requirements for the institutions should be valid for academic session 2020-21 (session beginning July 2020 and January 2021). This would be reviewed subsequently by the Commission for the academic session 2021-22 (session beginning July 2021) and onwards.

The universities would be required to submit the application and desired information, and comply with all the provisions of the regulations and would also have to submit an affidavit to the UGC, the guidelines further said. “Also, in case the higher education institutions want to start more than the defined number of programmes, then it should seek prior permission from the Commission,” the guidelines added.

To conduct courses for this academic year, all universities have been asked to submit online applications, for which the deadline would be October 15. As per the new norms, if any university is found violating the guidelines, the Commission would derecognise the institution. Also, the chances of it getting permission to start courses in the future would be bleak.

To conduct online courses under the new guidelines, a NAAC score of 3.36 and above will be required