In a relief, 900 autonomous colleges across the country will now be able to provide online/remote education from July onwards as the government will open up online education sector in a major reform to achieve 50 per cent gross enrolment ratio by 2035 keeping in sync with National Education Policy 2020.
In the coming academic session, students can now opt for their preferred institution without worrying about the number of seats and cut-off marks.
At present, only universities can offer these remote degrees. The new rule will, however, allow autonomous colleges who have secured ranks in the top 100 list in the respective subject category twice in the preceding three rankings of
National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) or having National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) grade of grade of minimum 3.26 to award online degrees without prior approval of the University Grants Commission (UGC), but in compliance with its regulations.
Eligibility for admission to these online undergraduate degree programmes will be simply “senior secondary pass”. Similarly, for admission to online postgraduate degree programmes, the eligibility will be “pass” in the relevant undergraduate course.
The draft for the amendment in the existing UGC (Open and Distance Learning Programmes and Online Programmes) Regulations, 2020 is being finalised and will be available f or feedback from stakeholders from next week.