PhD by Research/thesis/dissertation Only

You should not rely on internet articles or blogs to make assumptions. You should go to the government authorities to validate Universities. In the case of India, this is UGC and the link below confirms accreditation of the school in question:

University

There are many blogs that bash schools or post non facts for any reason. It is always the best to approach the education authorities in question to avoid misunderstandings.

IBAM and OIUCM are not included in the list of fake schools of the UGC site:

University Grants commission ::Fake Universities

This means that these schools are not scams but also not accredited as they are not in the list of accredited schools. I would consider them the equivalent to state approved but non accredited in American terms.

 

I am not questioning the legal status of these schools, so your reply doesn't address the issue that I've raised. For example, Pragyan is obviously a recognized university. It can issue degrees. The question is whether it could legally issue degrees in 100 % online mode to a student located outside of India, or an Indian student who doesn't take any classes on campus. (I am not saying that the university issues degrees in this manner. I am using that as an illustration). That doesn't appear to be a recognized mode of study (see previous article link), which means that a degree obtained in this way is invalid. In the end, the student gets an invalid degree from a recognized university. If someone is okay with that, I wish him all the best. I just think that the student has a right to know that this will be his award after several years of study.

 

Indian PhDs are normally research based only. I believe that Pragyan might require you to come to defend your dissertation.
The issue of DL might be more of a concern for course based only degrees. I am sure that schools with UGC accreditation might require some residencies in order to comply with UGC requirements.

In any case, the general rule is that if the school is UGC accredited, the school would be considered RA equivalent.

The Indian education system is quite complex, many schools are registered under different acts and operate legally but technically UGC is the maximum authority when it comes to accreditation and acceptability of degrees.

I think the main issue with an Indian degree is acceptability in the US. Some of the known schools such as IIT might have good acceptability but a low profile private school might have little utility in the US.

Many people are just interested in getting a PhD for personal use but also do not want people laughing at them because the bad reputation of the degrees. I have seen many Americans being bashed on the internet because of their IBAM or OIUCM degrees so I would think that an UGC accredited degree at least will prevent people from bashing your efforts and credibility but people should not think that Indian degrees would lead to full time faculty positions or top government jobs.

 

Hi

This is really an interesting route. What about viva voce? How many years? Price?