UGC Permits 7 More Institutions to Offer Online Degree Courses from Academic Year 2021-22; Check Details Here

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has permitted a total of seven more institutions to offer online degree courses through the Open and Distance Learning (ODL) mode.

In addition to the list released in August-September 2021, the list permits the seven universities to offer online degree courses. These seven institutions are from the states including Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Delhi. 

According to the UGC notice issued on October 27, 2021, there are a total of 30 HEIs entitled to provide online courses until they comply with NAAC or NIRF ranking requirements as per regulation 3(B)(a) and on non-compliance. 

Names of Institutions Permitted to Offer Online Degree Courses (Notice on October 27, 2021)

The institutions have been selected after identifying their conformity to four stated provisions namely:

• Entitlement eligibility criteria of HIE
• Permissibility of proposed programmes in online mode
• Adherence to UGC notice on Specification of Degrees 2014
• Prior approval to regulatory authority, wherever applicable

The UGC informed in its statement that the students already enrolled in the entitled programmes will be permitted to finish their courses as per the UGC regulations 2020 and its amendments.

Earlier, Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) had increased the number of online courses offered and now the university will offer 10 more online degree courses in BBA, BA in Hindi, History, English, and Urdu and MCom are one of the new courses recognised by the UGC. 

Further, the Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala has increased the number of online courses by offering ten more online courses. To name a few, BCom, MSc in Statistics, MA Animation, Multimedia and Graphic Design, are the new courses. 

Calicut University Receives UGC Permission to Offer Distance Education Courses from Academic Session 2021-22

Post the meeting with the Standing Appellate Committee (SAC) of the commission conducted in June and July, the list has been prepared. 

Initially, the commission had permitted more than 50 institutions to offer ODL programs, but now these institutions can offer the online programs as long as they comply with the NAAC or NIRF ranking requirements as per UGC regulations. 

However, if the institutions fail to comply, they can discontinue the online programmes and inform the UGC accordingly, the UGC said in its statement. 

As per the UGC statement, the HEI has the sole responsibility to ensure that the programmes are offered in full-fledged online mode by mandatorily following the provisions of UGC (Open and Distance Learning Programmes and Online Programmes) Regulations, 2020 and the clauses as specified in the affidavit submitted by the HEI.

The duration of the programmes will be based on the UGC notification on Specification of Degrees and its Amendments and the list will be updated from time to time accordingly. Further, all the stakeholders are advised to go through the UGC notices available on the UGC website (ugc.ac.in/Notices). 

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