The University Grants Commission (UGC) has released a notification for students enrolling in Open and Distance Learning (ODL) and Online programmes for academic session 2024-25. The new admission process has been announced by the university body to ensure transparency in admission process and enrollment in only approved higher educational institutions.
The notification was released by the UGC to keep a check on the higher education institutions that had admitted students in unrecognised, ODL/Online programmes. The commission has standardised the admission procedure for students enrolling in ODL and Online mode to safeguard their academic future and career prospects.
"UGC (ODL Programmes and Online Programmes) Regulations, 2020 stipulates the minimum standards for offering programmes in Open and Distance Learning mode and Online mode by the HEIs. The UGC Distance Education Bureau website comprises information about the year-wise list of universities recognised/entitled by the commission to offer programmes in ODL/online mode. The list is available on the official website https: / / deb.uec.ac.in/," reads the UGC notification.
The notification has been released for academic session beginning October 2024.
UGC has developed a mechanism for transparent admission process wherein any student who intends to enroll in ODL/ Online programmes can register on UGC-DEB web portal (URLlink: https://deb.uec.ac.in/ and https://deb.uec.ac.in/StudentDebld) with their Academic Bank of Credit (ABC)-ID for generating a unique DEB-ID.
"All stakeholders are hereby informed that the creation of DEB-ID shall be required for every student (except foreign learners) willing to enroll in ODL/ Online prograrnmes in recognized/entitled HEIs from academic year 2024-25, academic session beginning October, 2024 (revised from July-August, 2024) and onwards. The DEB-ID once generated on UGC-DEB web portal will remain valid for lifelong ODL/Online learning," reads the notification by the UGC.
The UGC has requested the higher educational institutions to implement the new mechanism for ODL and Online mode admission process.