Online degree courses at 230 universities soon

Once the UGC finalizes the criteria, the HRD ministry is likely to announce the new norms under which many universities will be able to deliver online courses. 

Over 200 Universities can soon start offering online degree courses in order to improve accessibility to higher education as the University Grants Commission (UGC) is changing their eligibility criteria. According to a reputed source, the LJGC is finalising a proposal whereby “a university which fulfils one of the two criteria — Naac 3.01 and above CGPA (Grade A) or among the top 100 NIRF rankings will be allowed to offer online degrees. This will expand the eligibility base to over 230 universities, significantly higher than the previous plan of 100 universities".

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The move came after the human resource development ministry asked the LJGC to review the rules. Earlier, the government announced that those institutions will be allowed to offer programmes online who will fulfil both the criteria of featuring among the top 100 in the National Institutional Ranking Framework ranking and having National Assessment and Accreditation Council 3.26 CGPA (Grade A+) grade.

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With MHRD's earlier announcement, only 67 universities became eligible. A senior HRD ministry official said, "Under present rules, many good universities will be missing out on the opportunity as they have to fulfil both the criteria. So the ministry asked the UGC to have a review so that more institutions can offer online degrees but without diluting the quality.”

The step is taken not only to enhance the gross enrolment in higher education but also to improve the quality of the institutions.

Reports suggest Naac director S C Sharma said: "Equity and accessibility is important and gross enrolment has to go up significantly. But quality has to be ensured and allowing institutions of 3.01 CGPA and above to offer online degrees will ensure that. Moreover, universities which aspire to offer online deg-rees now will enhance their student-faculty ratio, improve their infrastructure so that they get at least Naac A grade or among the top 100 NIRF institutions which will translate into quality improvement as well."

Once the UGC finalizes the criteria, the HRD ministry is likely to announce the new norms.

A source from the Ministry suggests that from the forthcoming academic session, around 100 universities are likely to be ready to roll out online degree programmes.

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