The Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat) has amended its rule that only distance education courses offered by the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) would be recognised as eligibility criteria for admission to its various programmes.
The academic council of the varsity has now decided to recognise the distance education courses offered by universities that are established by an Act of Parliament or the State Legislature and approved by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
From next year, Cusat will admit students who had pursued distance education courses offered by such universities for its academic programmes. The prospectus for admission to various courses for the year 2015-16 will include this amendment.
For years, Cusat had only considered the applications of candidates who had passed the distance education programmes of IGNOU for admission to its courses through either the Common Admission Test or the Departmental Admission Test.
The academic council observed that many students were denied opportunity despite having the required credentials as they had pursued a distance education programmes by other universities. Even the academic courses offered by State universities under Schools of Distance Education were not recognised by Cusat.
A few years ago the varsity had decided to recognise the courses offered by universities recognised by the Distance Education Bureau but later changed it and restricted it to the courses offered by IGNOU.
