Education Q&A

Any distance education universities in India?

Q. I noticed that someone fairly local had a masters degree from an Indian University. As he didn't fit the ethnic profile, I checked out the school. It was a prominent university that had no distance program. He must have attended residentially. Be careful with Indian schools, because there are many with limited recognition and resources are limited to determine the good from the bad from the ugly.

A. BITS Pilani has been offering courses via distance education for a while (atleast 12 yrs.), though they might not have anything in the area of Arts. http://www.bits-pilani.ac.in/dlp-home/ The University Grants Commission may offer something - http://www.ugc.ac.in/index.htm I would expect there to be a lot of overlap betweem what you find there, and this list (from vidyapatha.com, mentioned in the post below) - http://www.vidyapatha.com/distance_edu/websitelist.php (Ya, IGNOU is another known one. That and UGC are Government initiatives.) Also, might want to try searching / asking here (Yahoo Groups - Distance Learning & Developing Countries) - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dldc/ Look, if it's the money that's got you hooked on a non-US degree (which is OK with me) then go to South Africa where DL is a known commodity and the access lanes are known and clear. If your primarily interested in something that is particularly "Indian" then proceed at full speed. Otherwise, consider a change of course, you can study "Asia" from anywhere. If you can state more specifically your academic interest then someone might be able to give a specific reference.