That sucks!!! I wonder how that will affect the people that already have doctorate degrees via distance. Will they be looked down upon because of this?
IGNOU disregarded them last time, and rightly so. We'll see what happens this time. I suppose the worst case scenario is that a country with a billion people and a healthy cultural appetite for higher education just handed a noticeable segment of the market to universities in other countries. That's tragic for Indians, but it's an early Christmas for foreign institutions in a position to fill the gap.
My guess many foreign universities are salivating with the opportunity to enter this "yuge" market. UGC has just assured them that there will be no local competition at the doctorate level. This is a dumb decision by supposedly smart people.
I think the last time they hit the OFF button it was really the PAUSE button and thy mostly wanted to exert some quality control over a large and diverse collection of schools. I'm guessing that they will implement some national standards and then turn it all ON again
Hopefully, not "universities" manufactured by Axact, next door in Pakistan! :shock: Seriously, there are few countries who would be interested in providing such programs, at prices generally charged in India. I doubt China would - its home market is massive and will keep Chinese institutions busy for the foreseeable! In fact, I can't think of any country - not even the famous, well-regarded South African schools. Unless, that is, some beneficent institution is prepared to underwrite massive distance-study scholarship programs.... and how likely is any country to do that for other than its own people? Nah. Nobody wants to start riots! J.
Again seriously, it would be possible, I suppose, for the many legitimate schools in Pakistan to fill the void - in the customary price range. But I think that they'd have few takers. Indian degrees seem generally better-recognized abroad than those earned from Pakistan's schools. I'd think that at home - in India itself, many degrees of Pakistani schools might suffer by comparison. J.
That (quite negative) regulation is about "the UGC Regulations on Minimum Qualifications for Appointment of Teachers and other Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges". Why should an Indian university hire a person with a Pakistani or maybe an US DL PhD if it dosen't hire people with Indian DL PhDs? I think that UGC rule applies to all DL PhDs.
Moreover, I suppose UGC didn't read my paper about this from a few years back: Solving India's PhD Shortage through E-Learning
Few questions to raise: What if a student is full-time (9+ hours) and completes a DL PhD? What if a student does some of the classes on campus? Too many "what ifs" to raise here.
