The sudden change in the norms by the University Grants Commission (UGC) on online courses has left 108 students of the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Open University (BRAOU) without a degree even as they lost precious time and money.
These students, most of them working professionals, opted for the MBA online programme offered by the BRAOU in association with a private agency School Guru. They were admitted after an entrance examination conducted in December 2014 and were supposed to graduate in April 2017.
“We were waiting to complete the course for further strengthening our chances of employment. But the University suddenly stopped the course stating that the UGC has declined permission,” said Pratyusha, one of the affected students. Similar is the case of some students who had come to India from Gulf and other countries to pursue the course.
These students paid the first semester fee of ₹10,000, examination fee of ₹ 2,000 and application fee of ₹750 so far. However, they want the university to continue the course and most of them are not interested in the refund. “We joined the course and want to finish it though we have wasted a lot of time,” said another student.
But the BRAOU officials say they are helpless in continuing the course. A senior official said that the UGC changed its guidelines on online courses in 2016 while the course was started in 2015. “We were not expecting such changes when we started the course and had no other option but to discontinue it midway.”
A senior official of the university said they empathise with the students and want them to continue with the course offline if they are interested or take the money the back. “In fact, a meeting of the Deans has been called and within a few days we will come up with a solution to the issue,” he said wishing anonymity.
One option that students can choose is to continue the course in the offline mode since from this year MBA course duration has been reduced to two years from the existing three years in BRAOU.
