NEW DELHI: India’s higher education regulator has permitted seven more universities to offer online degree programmes after releasing a list of nearly 50 such institutions over the last two months.
The seven institutions are from Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.
The list has been prepared after meetings of the standing appellate committee of the University Grants Commission, conducted in June and July.
The UGC had earlier allowed 50 institutions to offer online degree programmes.
The commission has said that the institutions can offer the online programmes as long as they comply with the NAAC or NIRF ranking requirements as per regulations, and if they fail to comply, they can discontinue the programmes and inform the UGC accordingly.
Under the UGC (Open and Distance Learning) Regulations, 2017 that were introduced with an aim to improve the quality of open and distance learning, only universities can offer these courses and the main quality eligibility benchmark is NAAC score of 3.26 on a 4-point scale.
UThe programmes allowed include degree programmes for which UGC approval is needed. However, certificate, diploma programmes can also be conducted with approval of statutory authorities and relevant regulatory authority.