Friday, Apr 26, 2024 | Last Update : 12:37 AM IST
Ignou defies UGC order, to launch Ph.D. courses
Indira Gandhi National Open University (Ignou) is all set to defy the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) dictate and resume its doctoral programmes from next year.
Indira Gandhi National Open University (Ignou) is all set to defy the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) dictate and resume its doctoral programmes from next year.
The decision comes a month after its board of management concluded that the Ignou Act authorised the institution to design and offer any course.
According to a varsity source, the institution would start offering Ph.D. programmes from January 2017.
“We follow all the norms prescribed by the UGC for Ph.D. courses. Just because it is an open university, it should not be asked to stop any academic programme. It is presumed that research programmes by distance universities are like degree mills. It is not the case in Ignou,” a faculty member said.
Ignou had stopped offering Ph.D. courses in 2014 after the UGC directed all the 15 exclusively open universities in the country to stop research programmes in distance mode.
The UGC’s regulations on Ph.D. courses notified in 2009 and revised in 2016, with the approval of the human resource development ministry, banned research programmes offered through distance mode.
“Ignou’s Distance Education Bureau has been asking the 15 open universities to file affidavits saying they would not offer Ph.D. courses through distance mode. This had prompted the varsity, along with other varsities, to discontinue such programmes. But on July 23, the board of management decided to reject the UGC restrictions on the ground that the Ignou Act authorised the varsity to design and offer any course,” the faculty member added.
The board members also concluded that the Ph.D. courses the varsity offered were comparable to the doctoral programmes which conventional universities offered. But before Ignou stopped offering Ph.D. courses, researchers would keep in touch with their guides for the entire period of research and submit progress reports every six months.
However, a few members felt that the university should convince the UGC about its quality control and seek approval before restarting the Ph.D. courses.
