The popularity distance education is growing in India at a rapid pace and so as the demand for online learning. Most of the reputed universities and colleges in India, have already adopted or embracing towards distance mode of education. Despite of the growth in adoption of online education, it is still relatively fresh in India. Large number of students are unfamiliar with the distance mode of education and many parents are sceptical about the acceptance of the distance courses. We all have many questions on distance education and we need time to get accustomed. To help you out in your queries, we have listed down some of the frequently asked questions about distance and online education in India and all the answers are best of our knowledge and research.
A lot of people ask this question when they are not clear about the distance education degrees. This distance education degree is definitely one of the flexible and cost effective mode of education, if you want to pursue your education outside of the classroom sessions. The first thing you should know is whether a distance education degree program in India is valid or not. Since distance education degree programs are provided by different colleges and universities, you need to check whether the university is accredited or affiliated. You can easily find details on these through various websites. Usually, there will be contact information of the institution on the website too, so you can easily contact them to clear any doubt.
Distance Learning is a good alternative to traditional education wherein students study at their own pace. In traditional schooling, you attend classes during fixed-time intervals, however, with distance learning, you can study at any time during the day. Among the types of distance learning courses that are offered today are such widely popular ones as online short-term college courses, online associate degrees, certificate and degree completion programs, and virtual trips, which are quite popular in recent years. The typical types of distance learning include asynchronous, synchronous and hybrid. Asynchronous means that the students and the faculty are not communicating real-time and in synchronous mode students and teacher interacts with each other at the same time, from different locations. Hybrid distance education is similar to synchronous, except that interaction between the students and the teacher is possible but not throughout the tenure of the course.
According to the notifications from authorities, distance and regular both degrees are eligible to appear in UPSC/IAS examination. For IAS examination, the requirement is graduation degree in any stream recognized by University Grant Commission (UGC). If you are holding degrees like BA, MA, BSc, BCom, MCom, BTech and those are issued by the UGC approved colleges or universities, those are equally valid for UPSC/IAS/PCS examinations. In short, for all Govt. Jobs regular and distance have the same value as far as it is obtained from the institutions/Universities which are approved by U.G.C. So, you do not have to worry about admissions or jobs based on the mode of education.