Page 484 - Compendium of UGC Regulations 1957-2023

Regulations pertaining to Credits, Academic Programmes and Award of Degrees:

Any Study Centre or Learner Support Centre shall be established by the Higher Educational
Institution after processing through the appropriate statutory bodies of the Higher Educational
Institution. While processing such approvals it is mandatory to provide evidence of the
preparedness for establishing Study Centres/Learner Support Centres, providing learner
support services, availability of the academic, other staff and qualified academic counsellors.

The Higher Educational Institution shall have a Standard Operating Procedure for the smooth
functioning of the Study Centre or Learner Support Centre which will include all aspects of
functions of the Study Centre or Learner Support Centre, monitoring mechanism of different
services provided by the Centre, and it shall be mandatory for the Study Centre or Learner
Support Centre to maintain the learner data related to conduct of counselling sessions,
evaluation of assignments and effective and online grievance redressal system, which should
be monitored at the level of regional centre and Head-Quarters.
List of the Study Centre or Learner Support Centre as approved by the respective Higher
Educational Institution shall be submitted to the University Grants Commission at least 60
days in advance before operationalising the Study Centres or Learner Support Centres. The
list of Study Centres or Learner Support Centres with details such as: Name with address of the
institution where the centre is located, name of the coordinator with contact details, working
hours and schedules for counselling sessions, infrastructure and other facilities available in
the Study Centre or Learner Support Centre shall be displayed on the web portal of the Open
and Distance Learning institution and the same information shall be made available in the
printed prospectus for the information of the learners and other stakeholders.

In addition, a Higher Educational Institution should submit an undertaking to the Commission
effect that the academic and instructional facilities at its Study Centres or Learner Support
Centres meet all the conditions of these regulations and guidelines issued from time to time,
and are commensurate with the number of academic programmes and learners’ strength
thereto:-
Provided that the Higher Educational Institution shall not carry out any of its activities
related to the Open and Distance Learning mode at places other than Study Centres
or Learner Support Centres under a different name such as Information Centre,
Facilitation Centre, Nodal Centre, Knowledge Partner, Partner Institution, Multimedia
Centres and similar such names:-
Provided further that, no Study Centre or Learner Support Centre shall be established
beyond the jurisdiction of the Higher Educational Institution or under any franchisee
or outsourcing agreement, as described in these regulations.
3. Territorial Jurisdiction for Establishment of Study Centres or Learner Support Centres
Territorial jurisdiction of the Higher Educational Institution for Open and Distance Learning
mode programmes shall be as prescribed in the respective Acts of the Higher Educational
Institution, subject to the following conditions:
3.1 Higher Educational Institution other than Private and Deemed to be University:
Not beyond the respective State in case of Universities set up under any State Act. For
Universities set up under a Central Act the jurisdiction shall be as per the provisions of
the Act.
3.2. Deemed to be a University: The jurisdiction shall be as per extant provisions of the
Deemed to be a University regulations and also notified by the University Grants
Commission from time to time.

483
University Grants Commission