Online degree demolishes physical, economic, social boundaries, ensuring seamless learning: JAIN VC

Dr Raj Singh, Vice-Chancellor, JAIN (Deemed-to-be University) speaking to Shiksha.com talks about their online degree programs, vocational courses, skill development programs through JAIN Online, the e-learning arm of the university. The university has started courses like BBA, MBA, B.com, M.com, MCA etc in online mode. Dr Singh talks about the advantages of online programmes, which all courses are going to see a surge in demand and so on.

Q. How do you look at the growth of online degrees in the post-Covid world?

A. COVID-19 has changed the way we live, work and learn. While for the face-to-face degrees, the blended mode will be the order of the day, online degrees will serve hitherto unserved or the underserved. Mainly three segments will be served by the online degrees; 1) those who did not have access to quality education at affordable cost. 2) those who wish to upskill or reskill without leaving their current jobs and 3) the alumni who will be able to undergo continuing education programmes (CEP). It is very timely that the UGC has allowed top-ranked Universities like JAIN to offer online degrees. 

JAIN has launched degrees with specializations in emerging areas which is indicative of the University’s futuristic approach and strategic thinking. This will be our definitive contribution towards achieving India’s national missions and priorities like Skill India and Atmanirbhar Bharat. I see online education certainly growing exponentially.

Q. The NEP 2020 envisions increasing GER to 50% by 2035, what role online education can play in this regard?

A. It is not only increasing the GER to 50% but there have been unprecedented changes taking place in job requirements caused due to disruptive technological advancements demanding upskilling of those who cannot leave their current jobs. JAIN (Deemed-to-be University) has carved out a plan to offer a unique value proposition to over 150000 alumni of the group working all over the world. UGC’s allowing of online degrees by top-ranked Universities will greatly help in increasing access to quality education.

These online degree programmes have been designed in collaboration with the industry and will offer specializations in cutting edge technologies like data science, digital marketing and e-commerce, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and full-stack development. These specializations will not only help in serving the unserved or underserved but also prepare learners for the sectors that have huge job opportunities.

The active placement and internship assistance to students will be a unique feature. Also, as the nation implements the NEP 2020, the emerging landscape will be significantly different from that in the past and will require flexibility, inter-disciplinarity and access, inclusivity and affordability of higher education with high quality. Online degrees will bode well with the changing environment.

NEP envisages GER (Gross Enrolment Ratio) of 50% up from the current 27.1% in 14-15 years. This will require huge investments if we try to achieve it through increasing enrolments in regular programmes. While the government has limited resources, private sector institutions find it difficult to run institutions with financial viability. In such a scenario, online education will prove to be a boon and will be the only way to attain the targeted GER.

Q. There is a perception that an online degree is not at par with a regular degree. How do you look at this? 

A. While online and regular modes of education are not comparable to a large extent, both have their own advantages. While in regular mode, students have access to teachers, peer-to-peer learning and participation in co-curricular activities and extra-curricular activities more than what is possible in online education, online education gives the learners access to the best resources available globally. Also in the online mode of education delivery, if the institutions are able to integrate the learning from the workplace of the learners and assess such learning, the deficiencies can be largely overcome. Appropriate participation in discussion forums and break-away groups can also be used to ensure peer learning in online mode. In programmes wherein lab, classes are to be held, online education may serve the purpose a little less until there are virtual labs developed and online simulators can be made available. I will not be wrong in saying that for the audience it serves, online education is as good as regular degrees. The course design and the teaching-learning process have to be appropriately designed.

Q. Which all courses are going to see a surge in demand for an online degree, right now it is mostly around MBA, BBA, Mass Communication?

A. All such programmes wherein practical lab sessions are not needed or are relatively less, will see a surge in the online mode of education. Arts, humanities and social sciences, a discipline requiring online research and analysis, accounting and commerce and computer science and information technology programmes wherein most of the lab sessions can be held online are also suitable candidates to be offered in online mode.

As we move into the future wherein multidisciplinary education will be the order of the day, students will be able to choose courses that are available online as micro-credentials to supplement the regular degrees. Individual courses in the form of open electives and unrelated pathways will also see the growth through online mode of education in all the domains.

Irrespective of the domains being offered in online mode, the key issue will be, attaining the learning outcomes in line with the demand of industry and society, particularly those involving higher-order thinking skills (HOTS). There is a need to expand learning opportunities for students through innovative teaching-learning methods. Also, just defining the outcomes will not serve any purpose unless we train our faculty members to use innovative teaching-learning methods suitable to the target audience as outlined in the 4-quadrant approach of the UGC.

There is a need to undertake major reforms in examinations and evaluation methods. The examination and evaluation methods not only assess the performance of a student during a learning activity but also ascertain the relevance, efficacy and efficiency of a programme or course design. We need to adopt rubrics-based assessment in our Universities and Colleges, in addition to just awarding grades, which do not indicate much.

Q. Could you tell us some of the advantages of online degree courses?

A. In fact there are many advantages that online degrees offer to learners. They can acquire higher qualifications without having to leave their current jobs. In case they have to move to different places due to job or business or any other reasons, they do not have to discontinue their education.

Online education provides them with the possibility of learning anytime-anywhere and at any pace. While online education is significantly less expensive, it provides tremendous flexibility not only in terms of place and time of study but also in terms of an enlarged basket of courses and pathways to choose from. As a nation, India can have a higher percentage of foreign students enrolling in Indian Universities and Higher Education Institutions through online education. All the difficulties related to the physical movement of the learners can be overcome. It demolishes the physical boundaries as well as economic, social and political boundaries ensuring learning seamlessly.

Q. What courses are being offered as online degrees by JAIN? Is admission criteria for these courses different from regular degrees?

A. JAIN (Deemed-to-be University) currently offers a total of nine PG and UG degrees as approved by the University Grants Commission (UGC). The undergraduate degrees are in commerce and management and the postgraduate degrees are in management, commerce, economics, English, journalism & mass communication, public policy and computer applications.

These degrees are in addition to degrees offered in open and distance learning more in the areas of psychology, science, commerce, economics and others. The University will endeavour to expand the list in future since it offers more than 120 programmes in regular modes and has the requisite expertise and wherewithal to offer a large proportion of these programmes in online mode as well subject to the approval of the UGC.

Q. Tell us about the fee structure of online degree courses Vis-à-vis regular courses by JAIN?

A. The fee structure for online degrees is significantly lower as compared to regular programmes. For more details, prospective learners may visit the website https://online.jainuniversity.ac.in/. There are scholarships also available to eligible learners.

Read More:

• 17 scientists win Swarnajayanti Fellowships; Six from IITs among awardees
• University of British Columbia Provost appointed SNU Vice-Chancellor