Karnataka

Consortium formed to promote quality distance education

MANGALORE: The Vice-Chancellors of 13 State open universities and Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) have formed the Inter-University Consortium (IUC) to promote quality distance education in the country.

The IUC was formed on July 1, 2008, B.A. Vivek Rai, Vice-Chancellor, Karnataka State Open University, told The Hindu here on Tuesday. “We have agreed to a draft to this effect. It is to promote quality open and distance learning,” he said.

The consortium was formed following a series of discussions in the Distant Education Council (DEC), a statutory body, he said.

The IUC will hold its first meeting in New Delhi on August 12 to discuss its range of activities, nature of work and projects to be taken up , Prof. Rai said.

Members had suggested that the IUC could set up regional laboratories for postgraduate courses to help students pursue more science courses under the distance education mode.

It can play the role of a facilitator to make the expertise of Indian Institute of Management, Indian Institute of Science and Indian Institutes of Technology available to students of open universities, they said.

They suggested that it couldoffer need-based courses such as handicraft courses in local languages, he said.

Prof. Rai said that the DEC was also planning to introduce a uniform format applicable to State open universities regarding evaluation, award of credits to students, conducting contact classes and so on.

He clarified that the common format would not be applicable to fee structure as that depended on the infrastructure and local conditions of the State open universities.

It was also planning to assess the quality of courses being offered by open universities, he said.

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