There so many students enrolling for distant programmes, it has become the need of the hour to decipher the reason behind this growth.
-By Triparna Ray
Many young professionals and students speculate if distant and e-learning is worth their time, labour and money. Previously, students wished to go for further studies but many were held back due to various unavoidable circumstances like difficulty is approval of leave from office, family issues etc. “One of the reasons the demand for tutoring is so high in India and in other Asian countries is that students are unable to apply the theoretical knowledge that they gain to practical problems,” said Sandip Kar, Director, Learnpick. An emphasis on skill-based teaching focusing on the adoption of specific skills by students will certainly help address this. However, with many universities coming up with a lot of online and distant courses, it has become very easy for these individuals to simultaneously work and cultivate academic experience.
What India Offers?
In India, there are various kinds of degrees offered by Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and respective State Open Universities, (SOU’s) that one can opt for. For instance, there are Distant Learning, Open Learning, Correspondence Education, Virtual Education, Online education and Extension Courses. “Online teaching, nowadays, is one of the most used teaching methods with proven good results. With the growth of digital India, a lot of change is taking place in the education arena as well. Imparting teaching online has benefits like quick query solutions at odd hours, easy solution check, feasible video sessions etc. These facilities are not available in offline knowledge driven sessions,” stated Sandip Kar, Director, LearnPick.
International Collaborations of Indian Universities
Apart from these, there are Commonwealth of Learning (COL) courses which are initiated by the governments of commonwealth countries to exchange educational and cultural diversity among the countries.Even IGNOU has courses collaborated with UNESCO and has a chief role in SAARC consortium for Open and Distance Learning (SACODiL) along with Global Mega Universities Network. (GMUNET). International universities like University of Oxford, University of Manchester, Imperial College of London, University of Birmingham in United Kingdom, offer various academic and professional courses for short and longer time, which can be completed by distance learning.
Points to Remember
If at any point of time anyone is feeling deprived of experiencing a university or college life, they can keep in touch with the faculty, fellow students through online forums, social media groups and communicate easily. But it is very important to remember to know in details about the university, its quality of education, facilities and infrastructure provided, campus placements and of course, the degree which is to be pursued.
Benefits of Distant Mode of Study
Like every other college or university, these universities offer under-graduate, post-graduate and many vocational along with professional courses. The certificate holds equal value to degrees obtained by any regular student from universities round the globe. Another encouraging fact of this mode of study is, one can choose the schedule and be flexible with studies. Hence, at work or at home one can upskill themselves utilizing the obtained time. The courses can be pursued by people of any age group, and there is a scope for lot of improvement in the fields where one chooses to study. Nevertheless, “The first and most prudent step would be to identify one’s own strengths and passions. The prime idea should go with one’s ‘true-calling’ and not follow the herd. The final goal in this entire process is to select a career that will not only make you future-ready but also keep you happy and engaged in your professional path ahead,” added Ganesh Kohli, IC3 Conference Chair; President & Chief Mentor.
