New Delhi: As per the latest statement made by UGC Chairperson M Jagadesh Kumar, leading universities and institutes will soon be able to collaborate with Edtech companies in order to offer online undergraduate and postgraduate courses to students.
Under this initiative of the University Grants Commission (UGC), the higher education institutes which are approved by the commission will be able to tie up with various leading Edtech companies in order to offer online education content to interested candidates.
The initiative planned by UGC will not only offer greater flexibility to colleges and institutes but will also allow them to use the latest technology tools available for the benefit of students. The reform will bring together the fastest growing education firms and universities together.
As per UGC chairperson M Jagadesh Kumar, “Through UGC amendments, universities and colleges offering online UG and PG programs will be allowed to collaborate with ed-tech platforms towards developing course content and Financial Rules".
The opportunity will be provided to UGC-approved colleges and universities under the amendments Open and Distance Learning Programmes and Online Programmes Regulations, 2020, he added.
To make the amended draft regulations error-free and seek feedback and suggestions from the public domain, the UGC is now planning to put the draft of the same in the general domain from the first week of March 2022.
Top UGC Approved Commerce Colleges in India
UGC to Allow Autonomous Colleges to Offer Online Degree Programs From Session 2022-23
In addition with the Edtech collaboration initiative, the UGC also plans to permit top-rated autonomous colleges and institutes to offer online degrees and programs from the academic session 2022-23.
The UGC-approved autonomous colleges that have secured their ranks among the top 100 colleges under the NIRF twice in the last three cycles will have the option to include online courses in their curriculum.
Additionally, those top 100 rank holder colleges in NIRF (National Institute Ranking Framework) which have secured a minimum NAAC grading of 3.26 or above will also be provided with this opportunity.
As of now, UGC only permits its approved universities and their constituent colleges to offer online UG and PG programs. Under this criteria, over 59 universities are now offering 120 UG, 29 PG, and two PG diploma degrees through online mode to interested and eligible candidates.
Out of total courses, 15 per cent of online courses are covered with science domain, 50 per cent of courses are offered in the business administration domain while the remaining 35 per cent of courses are from the humanities stream.
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