According to data shared by University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar, on Twitter, stated that there has been a steady increase in the number of enrollments in online courses from last year. He said that this will pick up the pace once the National Digital University is announced, together with flexible online education regulations.
"Online programmes provide a window of opportunity to many students who are unable to join physically in a college or University," the Chairman tweeted. He also shared official data that revealed that there has been an increase in the number of students who enrolled for online programmes from last year. In 2020-21, 25,905 students enrolled and the number nearly tripled in 2021-22 with 72,400 enrollments, according to data shared by the Chairman. The data also revealed that Masters of Business Administration (MBA) and Bachelors of Business Administration (BBA) were the top two courses that saw the most number of students enrolling — 28,956 and 13,764 respectively.
"We need to take advantage of modern digital technologies to prepare engaging digital content and reach out to students using growing internet availability. At an affordable cost, students can access high-quality education to become skilful and knowledgeable," he added in his tweet. He also said that this will enable the students to become more employable in the emerging job market and has the added advantage of increasing the gross enrolment ratio.
