Distance Education Council (DEC), New Delhi set up National Accreditation Committee for Open and Distance Learning (NACODL) to accreditate institutions offering education through distance mode.
New Delhi: Distance Education Council (DEC), New Delhi, the body responsible for the promotion and coordination of the open university and distance education system in India, recently formed the National Accreditation Committee for Open and Distance Learning (NACODL). NACODL is set up with the aim to accreditate institutions offering education through distance mode on the lines of conventional universities.
N Rajasekharan Pillai, Chairman of DEC, said that as the conventional universities are accredited by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), a statutory body of UGC, institutes of distance education will be accredited by NACODL. He also said that the reports of post accreditation and assessment will be published on DEC's website. Remarks and ratings given in reports will be beneficial for students and parents both to evaluate the quality of education at various institutes of distance learning.
DEC's call for accreditation is also an effort to reinstate the equivalence between distance and conventional degrees. The reason is that distance learning is considered as inferior to class room learning by various students, academicians and employers. Therefore, everything right from infrastructure and human resources, student support system, relevance of programmes, employment opportunities, research and consultancy and governance will be assessed during the accreditation by NACODL.
Distance and Open Learning (DOL) of Mumbai University is undergoing the process of getting accredited. As per the sources, all institutions offering education through distance mode have been asked to apply for assessment and accreditation. A self-assessment report is being prepared which is considered to be the first stage of the accreditation process. Presently over 60,000 students are pursuing courses under the banner of IDOL. Moreover, the process of accreditation will enable to identify the short falls.
