Soon, online degree courses
Accredited
varsities in existence for at least 5 years will be able to offer online UG,
PG, diploma courses
World over, online degrees and courses are
offered by colleges and they have gained respectability. Students will not be
required to attend classes, but will take etutorials to understand concepts.
SENIOR HRD OFFICIAL
From this academic session, universities and
higher educational institutions are likely to offer graduate, post graduate and
diploma programmes online, with the University Grants Commission (UGC) all set
to approve draft regulations for the online delivery of such programmes.
According to people familiar with the matter,
these draft regulations will be tabled in the meeting of the commission to be
held on Thursday.
Under the draft UGC (Online Education)
Regulations, 2018, any higher education institution will be able to apply to
offer such online programmes if they have been in existence for at least five
years and are accredited by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council,
with a minimum score of 3.26 on a 4-point scale to maintain quality. At the
same time, they should have been in the top-100 in the overall category in the
National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) for at least two years in the
previous three years. “However, this will not be applicable to Open
Universities till NAAC or similar accreditation system or NIRF are made
available for open universities,” the draft regulations add.
The institutions can offer online programmes in
those disciplines in which it is already offering the same/similar programmes
in regular or open and distance learning. “The delivery of the programme will
be through the SWAYAM portal of the government under which online courses are
offered,” the draft regulations add.
Once the draft regulations are approved by the
Commission, the UGC will start accepting applications for starting these
courses by July.
Institutions will be able to offer online
degrees in all fields, except engineering, medicine, dental, pharmacy, nursing,
architecture and physiotherapy.
At present, the commission does not recognise
any course offered solely through the online mode. A student can get a degree
by enrolling in a university and attending classes or through a
distancing-learning module. From last year, the government has allowed
universities to offer 20% of their course material through the Massive Open
Online Courses (MOOCs) platform called Swayam. Currently, degrees obtained
exclusively through an online programme are not recognised.
A number of private universities do offer
online degrees but not many students opt for them as they are not recognised by
the UGC.
The initiative gains significance as it will
allow many students and working professionals to undertake courses and degree
programmes which will help the country improve its overall Gross Enrollment
Ratio (GER) in higher education. India aims to attain a GER of 30% by 2020 from
the current 25.2%.
“World over, online degrees and courses are
offered by colleges and they have gained respectability. Students will not be
required to attend classes but will take e-tutorials to help them understand
the concepts,” said a senior government official.
Apart from the actual programme delivery,
components such as the counselling and admissions process, and fee payment will
also be provide online.
“Online courses must be conducted truly online
in the sense that registration, two-way video streaming for content learning
and student interaction, availability of quality online content, assessment and
certification all activities must be online,” said SS Mantha, former chairman
of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).
“This needs high end technology to prevent
proxy students. If all this is done, and wherever required , if hands-on skills
are imparted, then online education will have the potential to raise the GER,”
Mantha added.
Source | Hindustan Times | 23rd May 2018
Regards!
Librarian
Rizvi
Institute of Management
No comments:
Post a Comment