• The development has come after the HRD Minister asked the country’s top 100 universities to offer such courses amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
• The University Grants Commission is set to bring in regulations for online degree courses.
• Members of the commission, in a meeting on Friday, discussed the contours of the regulations which will be similar to those for open learning courses.
• “It is likely that an integrated set of regulations for distance and online learning can soon be brought out by the UGC. There is a general agreement that courses which are high on practical content like engineering or others will not be offered through online education.
• Courses where there is less of practical training are ideal for such teaching. Moreover, subjects like coding can also be taught,” said a senior official.
• The reason for bringing in regulations is mainly to address the quality concerns related to such courses.
• The higher education regulator has already decided that it will lower the bar for varsities to offer online and distance learning courses from the earlier benchmark 3.26 score by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) at least for one academic year.
• Following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease, the HRD ministry has been focusing on popularising the online mode of education as classroom teaching appears increasingly difficult.
• Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said in her budget speech earlier this year that the country’s top 100 educational institutions will start offering full-fledged degree courses online.