The University Grants Commission has issued a notification that the open distance learning programmes offered by Periyar University are in violation of the UGC Regulations, 2020. It has cautioned the students not to join any such programme offered by the university; otherwise, it could jeopardise their career.
The UGC has said the university was recognised by the erstwhile Distance Education Council for the period from 2007-08 to 2014-15 and by the UGC-Distance Education Bureau for 2019-20 (academic session January 2020 only) for offering the open distance learning courses.
UGC Secretary Rajnish Jain said in the notification that the UGC had received representations that the university’s open distance learning branch was functioning without a full-time director and faculty members and inadequate non-teaching staff members. The complaints would be forwarded to Tamil Nadu’s Secretary for Higher Education “for fact-finding and needful action”.
