CHENNAI: University of Madras’s Institute of Distance Education (IDE) is likely to offer a master’s programme in defence and strategic studies from this year. The IDE has sought UGC approval for the new course and officials are optimistic that they will get a green signal within a week.
University officials said they received lots of inquiries about the defence studies course following which a decision was taken to start the course in distant mode. The university offers the course in the regular stream and it is one of the most popular programmes.
IDE admits students twice a year— in January-February and July- August. “If we get approvals by this week, then we will advertise for the new course and start admission process immediately,” said IDE Director S Aravindhan. Last year too, the institute had applied for UGC permission to start the programme but was rejected as the Central body was not satisfied with the available faculty.
“As the post of vice chancellor is lying vacant, we were not able to conduct interviews and hire faculty for the course last year. But now we have sufficient teaching faculty as guest lecturers and other faculty who teach the regular stream will also take classes for the IDE students,” said an official.
Along with defence studies, the institute has sought approval for a two-year B.Ed course in distance mode. The IDE had admitted over 32,000 students last year and it is one of the major sources of revenue for the university.