Draft rules allow autonomous colleges to offer online courses
Autonomous colleges in India will be able to offer online and distance education programmes from the 2022-23 academic session without prior approval from the University Grants Commission (UGC), provided they meet certain criteria, according to modified rules suggested by the higher education regulator.
Autonomous colleges in India will be able to offer online and distance education programmes from the 2022-23 academic session without prior approval from the University Grants Commission (UGC), provided they meet certain criteria, according to modified rules suggested by the higher education regulator.
The new rules will also allow them to employ education technology firms to develop content and evaluation systems.
The University Grants Commission (Open and Distance Learning Programmes and Online Programmes) Second Amendment Regulations, 2022, have been issued as a part of implementing the National Education Policy 2020 that aims to achieve at least 50% gross enrolment ratio by 2035. The regulator has issued a notice seeking public feedback by March 15.
Higher education institutions with valid accreditation by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council, a minimum score of 3.26 on a 4-point scale, or a rank in the top 100 in the university or corresponding categories of the National Institutional Ranking Framework at least twice in three preceding cycles at the time of application, will be permitted to offer distance and online learning without the prior approval of the Commission, the amended guidelines recommend.
The regulator intends to allow top-rated autonomous colleges to offer online degrees from the 2022-23 academic session, UGC chairperson Jagadesh Kumar said.
“We have around 900 autonomous colleges at present. The colleges meeting the criteria will not require permission from the UGC to start online courses,” Kumar said. “Besides, the other colleges which won’t meet the criteria will also be able to apply with the UGC for permission to offer online and distance education. Even those colleges will be given permission after appropriate verification.”
At present, only universities and their constituent colleges meeting the above criteria are allowed to offer online and open or distance degrees. Currently, 59 universities offer undergraduate and postgraduate courses online.
The higher education institutions may collaborate with technology service providers for the purposes of technology maintenance, learning platform, information and communications technology support, including production and animation, tech support for proctored examination, cloud support, advertisement and marketing and placement of learners, the draft amendments suggested.
The draft amendments have proposed that admission to these online and distance courses shall be done through minimum level qualifications only and “higher percentage as cut off for admission shall not be insisted” for admission to these courses. For evaluation, it proposed to conduct proctored examinations.
Technology support providers have been asked to only advertise activities in respect of online courses in the name of the higher education institutions they have collaborated with.
“(The) technology service providers shall not admit a learner to any programme in Open and Distance Learning Mode and/or online mode, for or on behalf of the higher educational institution,” the draft added.
The amendments also allowed higher education institutions to develop 40% of the content for online courses externally. “Higher educational institutions shall have an option either to have 100% inhouse content development or have minimum 60% in-house content development, and maximum 40% external contents from open educational resources (OER)/ massive open online courses (MOOCs) and such other modes, and the higher educational institutions shall provide options to the students for accumulating credits,” the amended norms stated.
