KOTTAYAM: In a major achievement for the Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, the University Grants Commissions (UGC) granted permission to launch online undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. Announcing the decisions on Friday, MG University vice-chancellor Sabu Thomas said this is the first time a university in Kerala got UGC approval to start online PG-UG courses.
It was in October 2020 that the MG University Syndicate had established a centre for online education to launch online undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. Sabu Thomas said as a first step, the university has decided to apply for permission to launch BCom and BBA degree programmes and MCom postgraduate degree courses online.
“The UGC-Distance Education Bureau has now given permission for three programmes, and the application for the same was submitted in 2020. Besides, the university has applied for permission to launch 10 more programmes online in 2021. The admission, teaching, learning management, fee payment, exams, valuation, mark list, etc are being done with the MGU-ALEMS (Automated Learning and Evaluation Management system),” he said.
The varsity has also taken steps to add more features to the existing software with the commencement of online PG-UG programmes. Earlier, the varsity had conducted proctored examinations for the short term programmes remotely and declared the results, using ALEMS. MGUIF (Mahatma Gandhi University Innovation Foundation), a subsidiary of the university, provides e-learning materials and other technical assistance for online learning. The construction of a state-of-the-art studio and recording labs is also nearing completion.
Since the territorial jurisdiction of the university is not applicable for conducting online programmes, students from anywhere in the world can join the programmes, which will be of great help to the expatriate community in Kerala, said the varsity authorities.