UGC Introduces New Enrolment Procedure For Online/Distance Learning Courses Starting September 2024

Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh): The University Grants Commission (UGC) is all set to introduce a new enrollment process for students who want to join Open and Distance Learning (ODL) and Online Programmes, starting from the academic year 2024-25,.

This change will be effective from September 2024 and aims to ensure that students only enroll in approved Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) and to make the admission process more transparent.

The UGC (ODL Programmes and Online Programmes) Regulations, 2020, set the minimum standards for these programmes, and a list of recognised institutions is available on the UGC Distance Education Bureau website.

This move comes after the UGC discovered that some institutions had been admitting students into unrecognized ODL and Online Programmes, putting students' futures at risk.

To protect students, the UGC has created a new system requiring students to register on the UGC-DEB web portal and generate a unique DEB-ID using their Academic Bank of Credit (ABC)-ID. This DEB-ID will be mandatory for all students enrolling in recognized ODL or Online Programmes, except for foreign learners, and will remain valid for their lifetime.

The UGC is urging all Higher Educational Institutions to implement this new admission process quickly and to promote it among new learners to ensure its success. Students can visit the UGC Distance Education Bureau website for more information and help.