UGC issued a circular stating that any PhD degree obtained through distance mode of education will no longer be valid. It further stated that only full-time and part-time programs will be recognized as degrees.The decision came as UGC said that in order to maintain standards in higher education PhD should be regular mode only.
The decision was announced on February 22 in a meeting.
''PhD degrees which are pursued either full time or part time will be treated as degrees awarded through regular mode, provided these are in conformity with the existing statutes/ byelaws/ ordinances etc. However, the PhD acquired under distance mode is not permitted.''
UGC issued another circular asking Colleges to upload the information on PhDs received by their staff and students with special mention to mode under which they were pursued. Colleges have been directed to share this information with the UGC ASAP. Most of the registered universities offered PhDs only in regular mode or part-time mode with the exception of few open universities like Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) as well as Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University (YCMOU).
M A Khan, Registrar, MU said, ''We only allow full-time research students (with or without scholarship) or those who work on it part-time, but definitely never a distance program," said M A Khan, registrar, MU''.