Preamble
he formal education
system particularly in the
context of higher education has been in existence
in our country for more than a
century and a half.
So rapid has been its growth that India today operates one of the largest systems of higher education in the world through a network of more than 304 universities and university level institutions and over 13,000 colleges.
Despite such a phenomenal expansion, however, this formal system of face-to-face instruction has failed to cope with the educational requirements of the increasing number of aspiring students who have already reached the 'plus two' stage. Moreover, with the severe financial and other 'resource crunch' presently experienced at all levels and in all sectors, funding for higher education institutions especially with respect to catering to their enormous infra-structural requirements, has become a more than pressing problem for all the funding agencies in general and the University Grants Commission in particular. Against this incongruous background characterized by growing demand as well as scarcity of resources, the distance education mode through the Open University system has arisen in the country and is gradually proving to be not only a suitable alternative, but also possibly the only viable, cost-effective option available to the country today.
With the establishment of more and more open universities presently numbering ten, including the National Open University and the large number of students it inherently attracts, a very natural and inevitable consequence is the conversion of single-mode conventional universities to dual-mode institutions, offering the distance education mode in addition. While this shift may possibly be understood and accepted as only a natural consequence of circumstances, what cannot certainly be understood and accepted is the outright commercial, profit-oriented approach adopted by these institutions, with little or no attention to 'quality' and the educational needs of the learners they have additionally decided to serve. This has resulted in a mushroom growth of distance education centres, established indiscriminately, often without adequate resource provision - both human and material, and what is perhaps even more serious - without giving a thought |
to matters of propriety, adherence to procedure, maintenance of jurisdiction and similar related issues. It is also a known fact that instructional material in print form is, even today the only medium used in most conventional universities. Even so, a matter often not fully addressed by these so-called distance education centres is whether these institutes have the infrastructural readiness to cope with the massive 'delivery' requirements necessitated solely by the print medium. Furthermore, while it might be argued by some of these institutes that matters of 'jurisdiction' should not be viewed very rigidly in the context of the present 'Cyber Age', an issue not fully considered by them is the capacity and the willingness of an institute to offer online education (including among other things, online registration, online counseling and online evaluation) taking into account the advances made in the field of Information & Communication Technology.
Considering all that has hitherto been mentioned, it is necessary that if this kind of mass proliferation of 'off campus study centres' with sub-standard facilities and inadequate attention to quality of education imparted has to be stopped, a proper and effective regulatory mechanism has to be adopted by the highest regulatory authorities like the UGC and the Distance Education Council. The guidelines that follow, spell out in detail the regulatory mechanism envisaged in this regard for the delivery mode dominated by print instructional materials and supplemented by AV materials, and in some cases, by IT often used for administrative purposes. The UGC, in consultation with the Distance Education Council, may issue these guidelines in the form of Regulations.
CONDITIONS FOR REGULATIONS
The universities (other than IIT's, IIM's and State Open Universities) established by the Act of Parliament or State Legislation and covered under section 2(f) and 12(b) of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956, shall give and comply with the following undertaking :
1. That the provisions of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956 and the provisions of the Distance Education Council established by the statutes under the Indira Gandhi National Open
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