Online Degrees to be Offered by Over 230 Institutions in India Soon
The Ministry of Human Resource Development proposed the UGC to change its eligibility criteria for universities to offer online degrees. The revised eligibility conditions will allow more than 200 universities to offer online degrees across India.
More than 200 universities can start offering online degree courses soon in order to improve the accessibility of students to higher education as the UGC (University Grants Commission) is all set to change their eligibility criteria. As per a reputed source, the UGC is finalising a proposal regarding allowing universities to offer online degrees provided they meet the particular eligibility criteria. The proposal entails that a university which is either among the top 100 NIRF rankings or has a NAAC CGPA of 3.01 and above (Grade A) will be given the permission to provide online degrees.
This proposal will expand the eligibility base to more than 230 universities in total, which is significantly higher than the previous plan of just 100 universities. This step was taken by the UGC after the Ministry of Human Resource Development asked the commission to review the rules and eligibility. Earlier, the government had announced that the institutions who fulfil both the conditions of featuring among the top 100 NIRF (National Institutional Ranking Framework) ranks as well as having a NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditation Council) CGPA of 3.26 with A+ grade will only be the ones allowed to offer programmes online.
Only 67 universities in the country were eligible for offering online degrees according to the earlier announcement of the MHRD. A senior official of the HRD ministry has said that under the present rules, several good universities will be missing out on this opportunity given that they have to fulfil both the criteria. Hence, the ministry asked the University Grants Commission to review its rules so that more institutions can be eligible for offering online degrees but without diluting the quality.
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The government of India is making this move not only for enhancing the gross enrolment in higher education but also for improving the quality of the institutions. According to certain reports, the Director of NAAC, S C Sharma, spoke on the matter and stated the importance of equity and accessibility. He said that gross enrolment has to go up significantly while ensuring that the quality remains of high level. Allowing institutions of 3.01 and above CGPA to offer online degrees will help in making sure of the fact that the quality of education is not compromised.
Sharma further said that universities aspiring to offer online degrees now will also enhance their student-faculty ratio and improve their infrastructure so that they can get a grade A by NAAC or can rank among the top 100 NIRF institutions. This will also translate into the quality improvement of the education provided by them.
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The HRD Ministry will announce the new and revised norms once the UGC has finalised the criteria. A source from the Ministry has also suggested that it is likely for around 100 universities to be ready to roll out online degree programmes from the upcoming academic session.