Hindustan Times, December 17, 2014

Why is a regulator needed?

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Delay
in enacting
The
Distance
Education Council of
India Bill 2014 could jeopardise the future of
Lakhs of students
Its a nightmare for students who have joined distance learning
classes. The issue of territorial jurisdiction and valid degree courses in
the distance education sector is virtually getting out of control. Despite
a June 2013 notification by the University Grants Commission (UGC)
which restricts a state/private university from offering courses beyond
its state boundaries, private universities continue to bend the rules.

That the UGC is helpless is obvious because all it has managed to

do so far is complain to state chief secretaries about the mess and
urge them to stop the universities from committing the violations. In a
recent RTI reply, the UGC has also admitted to writing to the chief
secretary of Karnataka to stop the Karnataka State Open University
(KSOU) from offering degree courses through institutes in other states.
The violation is so blatant that even in Delhi hundreds of institutes
affiliated to state/private universities of other states, are offering
degree courses which are illegal in view of the UGCs own notification.
Since the UGC is a mute spectator in this case, the future of lakhs of
students is in jeopardy as the degrees they get will not be considered
valid in spite of the fact that they have paid good money for the
same, says a UGC official.

Appointment of UGC as a regulator for distance education

programmes is a stopgap arrangement till a new distance education
council of India is set up. UGC does not have the requisite expertise to
perform the task.
Theres an urgent need for the distance education of India bill to
be passed in Parliament and made an act so that a regulatory authority
can take control of distance education in India. It should have come in
earlier during the UPA government rule. There is a complete paralysis
as private universities have been offering all sorts of courses without
any checks for the last couple of years. So some authority must come
up to stop this right now, says Professor NR Madhava Menon, an
eminent academician, under whose chairmanship a committee was set
up to revamp distance education in India. It was his committees
recommendation based on which the Distance Education Council was
dissolved and the UGC was given power to regulate distance education
till a new regulator came in. The Madhava Menon Committee has
envisaged a regulatory authority such as the distance education
council of India through an act of Parliament.
Another issue hampering student interests relates to new threeyear and postgraduate degree courses being launched by numerous
private universities without UGC approval.
Interestingly, a national collaborator of KSOU recently circulated a
mail among various institutes informing them about new three-yeardegree course devised and started by the university. These degree
courses are BSc in hotel management, BSc in fashion technology, BSc
in interior design etc. The collaborator also said there were some other
degree programmes such as BSc in multimedia, BSc in fire and safety
etc which are under process in the university. The institutes were asked
to sign agreements with KSOU for running the courses. While other
private universities are more discreet in offering such courses, KSOU is
defiantly defending its programmes, with the registrar of the university
saying, These courses are approved by the statutory bodies such as
academic council and board of management of the university so they
are valid and the university has the power to introduce such new
courses.
HT Education has also received many replies through RTI
applications in which the UGC has said that a private/ state university
cannot invent degree courses on its own and that such courses are
illegal. In an RTI reply published by HT Education on July 23, 2014, the
UGC had said that courses such as MSc in fashion communication, MBA

in interior designing, BSc in operation theatre technology, MBA in fire

safety, and BSc in airlines and hospitality etc were invalid.
Says Prof Menon, The UGC has the overall authority in higher
education and therefore, if you are introducing a new degree course,
the UGC will have to concur. It is independent in its domain

Does the draft bill address concerns of all stakeholders?

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Education
experts
sayListen
the Distance
2014, details of which are up on the website of the ministry of human
resource development for suggestions/views/ comments of all
stakeholders, should be passed in Parliament as soon as possible.
Academicians are of the view that open and distance learning (ODL)
institutions, which enrol one-third of students in higher education, offer
huge opportunities for providing low cost education to anyone and
anywhere.

Majority of the institutes agree that distance

shouldnt be confined within any boundaries.

education

However, there is hardly any attempt to make a comprehensive

survey of the functioning of open and distance learning centres on the
basis of which appropriate inferences for designing policies on ODL
could be drawn. Unfortunately, the UGC, as regulator, has been

oblivious to the lack of quality and efficiency in functioning of ODL

institutions. I think the draft bill should be enacted as soon as possible
to protect the interests of the students, says MM Ansari, member,
UGC.
Even on the question of territorial jurisdiction, a majority of the
stakeholders agree that distance education shouldnt be confined to
any boundary and allowed to go beyond the country, provided there is
a mechanism and regulatory methods to control the quality and
standards of education.
According to RK Arora, former deputy director, erstwhile Distance
Education Council, I dont see a specific provision in the draft bill on
the subject of territorial jurisdiction. However, I believe that once the
regulator comes into place, it will not restrict the distance education
within any boundary. I firmly believe that distance education needs no
boundaries.
Agrees Prof Menon, There are ample provisions in the bill which
ensure that the quality of education will not suffer and learners rights
will be protected even if a university is allowed to offer courses beyond
its own territorial boundary. If there is no provision for ensuring quality,
then distance education even within the territory of the university
remains a big problem.
Owners of some institutes have objected to a lot of provisions of
the draft act. AK Bajpai, secretary, Kurmanchal Institute of Degree and
Diploma Engineering (KIDE) Educational Society, Nainital, which had
got a clean chit from a Supreme Court - appointed commit -tee
investigating allegations against it for not maintaining proper
infrastructure and facilities, says: I have written to the HRD ministry
objecting to provisions in the bill. It allows study centres at existing
degree colleges and AICTE-approved centres which, according to me, is
wrong. If an institute can have proper facility, faculty and
infrastructure, it should be allowed to run distance education
programmes. I have seen many AICTE-approved institutes not
maintaining adequate infrastructure.

Students, alumni cheer as SPA Bill 2014 gets Parliament

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expresses
my gratitude towards the present
government for passing the School of Planning and Architecture Bill
2014 which makes three SPAs institutes of excellence. This bill has
given identity, endorsement and eminence to our studies and now we

are able to apply for government jobs, says Triveni Prasad Nanda,
former student, SPA, Bhopal.

HT Education had run a series of stories campaigning for the

rights of the architecture students
Nanda, till now, had an uncertain future despite securing all-India
rank 640 in the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) in
2008 (replaced by JEE later) and all India rank 5 in the Graduate
Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) in 2013.
He graduated from the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA),
Bhopal in 2013 but since the institute, established in 2008 by the
Central government, didnt have degree-granting status, he was
neither able to practice as an architect nor apply for a job.
Once any student completes a five-year bachelors of architecture
course, he/she is supposed to get enrolled with the Council of
Architecture (CoA) and get a registration number. Since SPA Bhopal
and SPA Vijayawada didnt have degree-granting status, candidates
admitted in 2008 and passing out in 2013, were unable to do anything
because they could not get enrolled with CoA in the absence of any
degree certificate, says Nanda.
Now since the bill has been passed by both houses of the
Parliament, hundreds of students from these two schools now expect
that there wont be any obstruction in the way of getting enrolled with
CoA.

However, hundreds of students from other prominent architectural

institutes continue to face problems as CoA is still refusing to enroll
them, saying that the institutes from where the students had
completed their courses were running without its approval.
Alleging that the study of architecture in these institutes was not at
par with the CoAs minimum standards of education, a competency
test had been conducted by the council. However, the Delhi High Court
had imposed a stay on the announcement of the result of the test. Not
only that, even the Central government and a recent Calcutta High
Court judgment of held that the CoA had no power to conduct any
competency test.
There is a fight between AICTE and CoA on the question of getting
approval. Students from AICTE-approved institutes are not being
recognised by CoA, says an architecture student requesting
anonymity. I got admission to an institute which ran with AICTEs
approval. I even appeared in CoAs competency test but now there is a
stay on the announcement of its result. I hope MHRD takes note of
this, says the student.