UGC brings new procedure for admission in Open and Distance Learning Programmes

New Delhi: Starting from the academic year 2024-25, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has introduced a new enrollment procedure for students seeking admission in Open and Distance Learning (ODL) and Online Programmes.

UGC Chairman Prof. Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar told IAS on Wednesday, "This change, effective from September 2024, is aimed at ensuring that students enroll only in approved Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) to offer ODL Programmes and Online Programmes and enhancing transparency in the admissions process. The UGC (ODL Programmes and Online Programmes) Regulations, 2020 set the minimum standards for such programmes, and a list of recognised institutions is available on the UGC Distance Education Bureau website. Recent issues with unrecognised institutions admitting students highlighted the need for this standardised procedure."

To safeguard student interests, the UGC has developed a mechanism requiring students to register on the UGC-DEB web portal and create a unique DEB-ID using their Academic Bank of Credit (ABC)-ID. This DEB-ID will be mandatory for all students enrolling in recognised ODL/Online programmes, except for foreign learners, and will remain valid for their lifetime. HEIs are urged to implement this new admission process efficiently and promote it to new learners to ensure successful adoption and operation, Kumar added.

New procedure for students enrolling in Open and Distance Learning(ODL) or Online Programmes from academic year 2024-25, academic session beginning September 2024 and onwards, to ensure enrolment only in approved HEIs and to enhance transparency in admissions - UGC (ODL Programmes and Online Programmes) Regulations, 2020, stipulated the minimum standards for offering Programmes in Open and Distance Learning mode and Online mode by the Higher Educational Institutions and accordingly, the year-wise list of universities recognised/entitled by the Commission to offer Programmes in ODL/Online mode is in public domain at the UGC Distance Education Bureau website https://deb.ugc.ac.in/.

UGC said that it came to the notice of the Commission in the recent past that few HEIs admitted students in unrecognised ODL/Online Programmes putting the future of students at stake. To address such incidents and to increase the transparency in ODL and Online mode admission, the Commission in its 581st meeting held on June 25, 2024, decided to standardise the admission procedure for students enrolling in ODL and Online mode to safeguard their academic future and career prospects.

Accordingly, UGC developed a mechanism for transparent admission process wherein any student intend to enroll in ODL/Online Programmes shall register on UGC-DEB web portal (URL link: https://deb.ugc.ac.in/ and https://deb.ugc.ac.in/StudentDebId) with their Academic Bank of Credit (ABC)-ID for generating a unique DEB-ID.

All stakeholders are hereby informed that the creation of DEB-ID shall be required for every student (except foreign learners) willing to enroll in ODL/Online programmes in recognised/entitled HEIs from academic year 2024-25, beginning September, 2024 (revised from July-August, 2024) and onwards. The DEB-ID once generated on UGC-DEB web portal will remain valid for lifelong ODL/Online learning, the official added.

Kumar said that all Higher Educational Institutions are requested to expedite the smooth implementation of the new mechanism for ODL and Online mode admission process by doing the requisite API integration process and promote this initiative among new learners to ensure its successful implementation.