Bharathidasan University distance education courses run into trouble

UGC says several rules have been violated

Bharathidasan University, Tiruchi, has been told not to admit students through its open and distance learning programme this academic session.

In a letter to the registrar, the University Grants Commission has said that the university “will be held responsible if any student is admitted without getting the requisite prior approval from the UGC.”

The commission has cited several violations, including setting up study centres outside the country. In a letter dated June 15, the Commission has said that the permission was denied as the university had not complied with UGC requirements.

The affidavit submitted by the university was incomplete with regard to the clause on territorial jurisdiction. The revised affidavit of 2014-15, relating to the clause on the issue was also not in order, the letter states. Besides, the university was offering courses that the UGC had not approved. The university had violated the Commission’s guidelines by operating 21 study centres outside the State and 10 in foreign countries.

The university is paying the price for permitting unbridled expansion, say members of the Association of University Teachers. “What started as personal contact programmes have gradually increased in number and the university entered into memoranda of understanding for setting up franchises,” says former AUT president K. Pandiyan.

But the members of the Association of University Teachers wonder why the Commission has brought in the issue of ‘territorial jurisdiction’, pointing out that the university has the right to conduct regular courses through open and distance mode since it does not involve research work as in the case of Ph. D.

“Territorial jurisdiction is not necessary to conduct regular courses. This only proves that the UGC is shutting us out in favour of foreign educational institutions. The aim is to open the higher education market without competition from local universities,” Prof. Pandiyan says.

Legal remedy

This is the third university, after Annamalai Universtiy and the Tamil Nadu Open University to receive such letters from the UGC. AUT members say the State government should intervene or seek legal remedy as these are public universities.

Source | The Hindu | 11 August 2015