Hisar varsity shuts down distance education centres

Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

Hisar, July 26

Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology (GJUST) has closed down all of its study centres in and outside the state which have been offering various courses through distance mode. The GJUST has 72 study centres across Haryana and in Chandigarh which have around 20,000 students.

The university has to take the step after the University Grants Commission (UGC) issued a public notice last week which states that the universities/institutions which are conducting examinations for their open distance learning programme beyond their territorial jurisdiction or outside the state is wholly illegal.

Citing its policy decision of June 2013, the UGC directed the universities to follow the policy and requested the students and their parents to refrain from studying in these institutions which violate the norms.

GJUST Registrar Dr Anil Kumar Pundhir, however, claimed that the university was running the distance programmes through these study centres after permission from the UGC. “But now, the UGC has directed all universities to close down study centres for distance education and we have complied with the directions,” he said, adding that there would be no adverse affect on the students who had already been enrolled and their admission would be valid till their course duration. However, there would be no fresh admissions.

A study centre in charge in Kurukshetra town – which is not in the territorial jurisdiction of the GJUST — informed The Tribune that they had not received any communication in this regard so far. “Those students who are already enrolled have taken the examinations. I am not aware of the further plans of the university,” he said.

Sources said that last year, nearly 10,000 students took admission in these study centres to pursue courses through distance mode. While equal number of old students were waiting for completion of their courses.

“The distance mode is a major source of revenue for the university and the closing down of these study centres would lead to a cut in its earnings,” said a university official.