DEB-ID must for admission to ODL, online programmes: UGC chairman

NEW DELHI: The University Grants Commission (UGC) will be introducing a new enrollment process for open and distance learning (ODL) and online programmes from this academic year 2024-25 onwards. Students seeking admission in ODL and online courses will have to first register on the UGC’s Distance Education Bureau (UGC-DEB) web portal, deb.ugc.ac.in, using their Academic Bank of Credit (ABC)-ID and create a unique DEB-ID.

The DEB-ID will be mandatory for all students, except for foreign students, enrolling in recognised institutes offering online and distance education. The DEB-ID will be valid for a lifetime. The new regulations will be effective from September 2024.

To safeguard student interests, the UGC has developed a mechanism requiring students to register on the UGC-Distance Education Bureau (DEB) web portal and create a unique DEB-ID using their Academic Bank of Credit (ABC)-ID. This DEB-ID will be mandatory for all students enrolling in recognised ODL/Online programmes, except for foreign learners, and will remain valid for their lifetime. HEls are urged to implement this new admission process efficiently and promote it to new learners to ensure successful adoption and operation," UGC chairman said.

The statutory body has cautioned the students several times to fact-check before applying for ODL admission at any institute. In this regard, the UGC has hosted the list of institutes granted permission to offer ODL and online education and year-wise, academic session-wise status of HEIs recognized to offer online programmes on the official website, deb.ugc.ac.in.

Further, it said that the admissions for all institutions offering ODL and online courses for the academic session beginning from February 2024 will be March 31.

The institutes have been prohibited from offering engineering, medical, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and other para-medical disciplines, Pharmacy, nursing, dental, architecture, law, agriculture, horticulture, hotel management, catering technology, culinary sciences, aircraft maintenance, visual arts and sports, aviation, yoga, and tourism and hospitality management courses in online mode.