The Distance Education Bureau (DEB) is a bureau of the University Grants Commission (UGC) based in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, in charge of regulating

distance education Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at a school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance. Traditionally, this usually in ...

in India. It was established in 2012, replacing the Distance Education Council (DEC), an organisation that was responsible for

open learning Open learning is an innovative movement in education that emerged in the 1970s and evolved into fields of practice and study. The term refers generally to activities that either enhance learning opportunities within formal education systems or b ...

and distance education since 1985.

History

Distance education in India started in 1962 with a pilot project correspondence courses, which led to the birth of

University of Delhi Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate Central university (India), central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and ...

's School of Correspondence Courses and Continuing Education. The success of the project led to introduction of correspondence course institutes (later renamed as directorates or centres of distance education) in more universities. In 1982

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Open University Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Open University, also known as Telangana Open University, formerly Andhra Pradesh Open University, is a public university in the city of Hyderabad, Telangana, India. History The university was established in 1982 as Andhra Pr ...

was established, the first

open university The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

in India. This was followed by the establishment of

Indira Gandhi National Open University Indira Gandhi National Open University, known as IGNOU, is a Central University located at Maidan Garhi, New Delhi, India. Named after former Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi, the university was established in 1985 with a budget of 20& ...

at the national level in 1985. Although the statutory authority for regulating higher education in India is the University Grants Commission (UGC), the responsibility for promotion and coordination of open and distance learning (ODL) was bestowed on IGNOU under the ''Indira Gandhi National Open University Act (1985)''. The Distance Education Council (DEC) was set up by IGNOU in 1991 and became operational in 1992. with the

Vice Chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor ...

of IGNOU acting as the ''ex officio'' chairperson of DEC. In August 2010, the

Ministry of Human Resource Development The Ministry of Education ( MoE; formerly the Ministry of Human Resource Development from 1985 to 2020) is a ministry of the Government of India, responsible for the implementation of the National Policy on Education. The Ministry is further d ...

(MHRD) constituted a committee for investigating distance education standards in India. The committee recommended the creation of a new regulatory body, the Distance Education Council of India (DECI). It also recommended that until such body is established, the DEC may be shifted to UGC. On 29 December 2012, the MHRD published an Order transferring the regulatory authority of distance education from IGNOU to UGC. In May 2013 IGNOU dissolved the DEC and the UGC took over the entire assets and manpower, establishing the Distant Education Bureau.

References

External links

* {{coord missing, Delhi College accreditors in India Higher education in India Distance education in India Organisations based in Delhi 2012 establishments in Delhi Government agencies established in 2012