TIRUCHY: The Centre for Distance and Online Education (CDOE) of Bharathidasan University (BDU) has initiated the process to introduce nine new programmes under the Open and Distance Learning (ODL) mode and has sought for approval from the University Grants Commission’s Distance Education Bureau (UGC-DEB).
According to sources in the CDOE, the proposed programmes include one undergraduate course in Sociology and eight postgraduate programmes-Sociology, Statistics, Environmental Science, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, MBA Financial Management, MBA Logistics and Supply Chain Management, and MBA International Business.
University officials said the new programmes have been identified based on emerging academic and industry demand, particularly for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, which have witnessed growing interest among both fresh graduates and working professionals seeking to upskill through distance education.
The MBA specialisations have also been proposed in response to increasing demand from professionals looking to enhance their managerial qualifications while continuing employment.
A senior university official told TNIE that the proposal has already been cleared by the university’s internal committee and forwarded to the UGC-DEB for approval. “We have completed the university-level process and submitted the application to the DEB. In the meantime, we will begin preparing the curriculum so that we are ready once the approval is received,” the official said.
According to sources, the curriculum for the proposed programmes will be designed using block model, under which the syllabus is divided into self-contained learning blocks or modules. Each block focuses on a specific set of learning outcomes, enabling students to complete the programme in a structured and flexible manner.
The move comes shortly after the CDOE received a five-year extension of approval from the UGC-DEB to offer 32 undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.