230 universities are going to be permitted to start online degree courses

1302 Shri K.C. Ramamurthy: 

Will the Minister of Education be pleased to state: 

(a) details of each of the 230 universities that are going to be permitted to start online degree courses; 

(b) the criteria being adopted by UGC to pursue such degrees online; 

(c) ways in which UGC will ensure infrastructure, student-faculty ratio, etc.; and 

(d) details of fee structure which universities offering online courses are going to charge from students? 

(a) and (b) The criteria set by the UGC for conducting online education under the University Grants Commission (Open and Distance Learning Programs and Online Programs) Regulations 2020 issued on 4thSeptember, 2020 are as follows: – 

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1. Universities with NAAC score of 3.26 or above can offer online education without prior approval of UGC. Similarly, universities which were in the top 100 rank under NIRF rankings (at least two years in the last three years cycle) can also offer online education without prior approval of UGC. 

2. Universities with NAAC from 3.01 to 3.25 can offer online education with the prior approval of UGC. Similarly, Universities that were in top 100 ranks in the NIRF ranking (in at least 1 year during the last 2 years cycle) can also offer online education with prior approval of UGC. 

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3. It should be known that for offering online education, university is required to have education system in place such as availability of course material, Learning Management System (LMS) etc. Therefore, 230 universities have not been selected for offering online education. Presently, 7 Universities are offering online education. 

(c) It is mentioned in the University Grants Commission (Open and Distance Learning Programs and Online Programs) Regulations 2020 (available at https://www.ugc.ac.in/pdfnews/221580.pdf) that for every programme there will be a Program Coordinator in the rank of Assistant Professor or above. There will be a Course Coordinator for each course whose responsibility will be to create, conduct and evaluate the reading material. In addition, infrastructure related requirements are also mentioned in UGC Regulations, 2020. 

(d) In order to enable the students of disadvantaged sections of the society to take advantage of the online education system, it is mentioned in this regulation that the fee structure should be devised in such a manner so that the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Economically Weaker Sections and Other Backward Classes can also take advantage of online education.