BU distance education lacks basic facilities

Even before the completion of a year after reclaiming its recognition from the University Grants Commission (UGC), officials at the Directorate of Distance Education, Bangalore University (BU), are in a fix as they are yet to meet the norms set by the supreme body.

The directorate which started offering correspondence courses in the current academic year does not even have a separate building in the vast campus.

As expected, the directorate got a good number of admissions this academic year. But, it has not provided study centres, full-time faculties or other facilities for enrolled students.

“Moreover, the Higher Education Department in the state imposed strict norms recently. So, it is almost equivalent to the regular courses offered at the university. The main aim of this is to stop the commercialisation of the courses. At the moment, we are managing with regular faculties. Though there are no study centres as yet,” a senior official from the Directorate of Distance Education told DH.

When asked about the status of the directorate, Mylarappa, Director (in-charge), Distance Education, said the department is working on it and are up to finalising the study centres shortly.

‘Process delayed’

“I agree the process has been delayed. I am writing to the vice-chancellor and registrar to look into the issue. Even they are quite busy. As we have got the recognition back from the UGC, we need to keep up the standards. We are in talks with various government and private colleges for setting up study centres. We have come a long way from the earlier standards. We will ensure the UGC will not pull us up for this again,” he said.

The BU registrar and vice-chancellor were not reachable for comment.