UGC allowing top Indian universities and colleges to offer online courses including Online degrees courses and diplomas from the academic year 2018-19
The University Grants Commission (UGC) is a statutory Organization of the Government of India by an Act of Parliament which was made for the coordination, determination and maintenance of standards of teaching, examination and research in university education.
Now, made a landmark reform that Institutions under UGC regulations is now offering online courses from this academic session. Universities and higher educational institutions from this academic session will be able to offer graduate, postgraduate and diploma programmes online in non-technical disciplines. The University Grants Commission (UGC) has approved the UGC (Online Courses) regulations for such degrees. “The regulations will be made applicable from the academic session 2018-19,” the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry said.
As this programme will also help in increasing the country’s gross enrolment ratio from 25.2% to 30% by 2020, the commission said.
The necessary conditions for universities to offer online courses are:
- At least one batch should graduate from the course which a university is planning to offer in online mode.
- Online courses that require practical/ laboratory work are not allowed.
- Online courses should have at least four quadrants: video lectures, e-content, self-assessment and discussion forum. The quadrants are needed to ensure students clarify their doubts as and when required.
- Exams for online courses should be conducted in proctored mode and in conformity with any norms directed by UGC.
- Universities should be in existence for minimum five years and accredited by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) with a valid minimum score of 3.26 on a 4-point scale.
- Universities should be in the top 100 in overall category in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) for at least two years in the previous three years. However, it may be noted that NAAC and NIRF conditions are not applicable to existing government open universities.
For the verification of Indian and foreign students Aadhaar cards and passports will be used for all online interactions, including teaching-learning and examinations.
