The University of Mumbai consists of two campuses out of which one is situated at Kalina, Santacruz and the second one is situated at Fort. The University of Mumbai has around 500 colleges affiliated to it and about 55 departments which impart education to more than 6 lakh students not only across the country but also across the world.

The University of Mumbai is considered to be the 7^th university in the country to have started the distance education courses in the year 1971. The Institute of Distance education started by the University of Mumbai has introduced various technical as well as professional courses though the distance mode. The university provides distance education to more than 70,000 students currently.

The various courses which are offered by the institute are

• B.A.
• B.Com.
• M.A.
• M.Com.
• M.Sc., Maths
• Two years Post-graduate Diploma in Financial Management (PGDFM)
• Post-graduate Diploma in Operations Research for Management (PGDORM)
• B.Sc.(I.T.)
• M.Sc.(I.T)
• B.Sc. (Comp. Sc.)
• M.Sc. (Comp.Sc.)
• M.C.A.
• B.Sc. (Nautical Technology) and many more.

The study material is usually provided to the students in the printed form in English or Marathi (in case of few subjects). The university also provides its students with various other facilities such as an Audio-Visual Centre, Library, Reading Room facility in Mumbai, Home-lending of books against deposit etc.

In a country which is geographically as huge as India, it might not be possible to construct schools and colleges all over the country in all areas. This is where distance education can be utilized. For students who might not have quality schools or colleges offering the course that the student wants to take up, then the student can take up a correspondence distance education course with another university or college which may be located else where. Hence inspite of being at home, the student will be able to take up a course and also study for it through the distance education program.

There are several students in India who have financial constraints and hence due to these reasons can not take up the full time courses which they might other wise have wished to. For such students the benefits of distance education are immense, for they can take up a distance education course with out having to pay too high a fees and while also having the option of being able to work and earn money thereby helping them make a living. Hence the distance education courses have several benefits to offer to students.

There are several web sites on the internet that offer courses as well as tutorials which students can take up with out having to pay a large salary. There also a large number of web sites that offer you free distance education courses to students. If you are looking for free distance education courses on the internet then you can log on to the following web sites in order to find a distance education course that suits your profile or educational aspirations.

http://www.distance-education.org/Articles/135-Completely-Free-Distance-Education-Courses-26.html: This web site offers distance education courses across several streams like Art, History, Medical, Science, Biology, Business and other streams. Hence you can choose from among several courses and take up a free distance education course of your choice.

Students can opt for correspondence courses through several universities in the country. The indira Gandhi national open university or the IGNOU is one of the premier universities in the country and allows students to take up courses which are a part of their education or career. Similarly there are several other universities and colleges as well that allow you to take up courses of your choice. You can take up engineering, commerce, accounts, arts, management courses through correspondence distance education courses for you to take up.

The concept of correspondence education has been prevalent in the Indian education system for a long time. Since students can possibly not make it up for their courses in person they can always opt for correspondence distance education courses in order to take up the course. The tests as well as the examinations are also conducted on regular intervals hence a student can be assured of learning the concepts required for the course and also getting evaluated at the same time through frequent tests and exams.

IGNOU was basically established for following
reasons:

• Provide education by means of correspondence courses
• Give higher education openings
• Organize the standards for open education in Indian
• Build up the human resources of India
• It maintains the standards of distance education by acting as national resource center

IGNOU is one of the biggest universities in India which also serves in 35 nations with 11 institutes having an association of 58 regional and 7 sub-regional centers. It consists of around 1.4 million students in 1400 education centers. It is famous for its higher or post graduation studies i.e. 1 out off 10 students opt for higher education in India. It has certification, degree and diploma courses around 1100. Different kinds of courses offered by IGNOU are as follows:

• Doctoral Program
• Master’s Degree Program
• Bachelor’s Degree Program
• PG Diploma Program
• Certificate Program
• Diploma Program

IGNOU way of training is very much different from that of other universities. The academy has approved a multimedia method to education. The different components are as follows: self learning notes, counseling conferences, both peer-to-peer and through teleconferencing mode. For different technical and nursing courses the apparatus are arranged for practical.

The evaluation or the marking system is two-tier i.e. there are two ways a student is judged, which are:

• There is a timely online test basically multi-choice questions, assignments are also graded and in some cases project work.
• The examination at term end

For further information a person can contact on:

Maidan Garhi

Delhi

India Pin Code: 110 068

Website: http://www.ignou.ac.in

1. What is distance Education?

As the name suggests distance education refers to being able to study or take up a course with out being present physically for the course but being able to take it up through any other medium.

1. What are the advantages of taking up a distance education course?

There are several advantages of taking up distance education related courses. Most of these advantages are already listed on this web site. Kindly go though them.

1. How much is the fees for distance education related courses?

The fees for a distance education program may vary on the basis of the course being taken up and the college or the university through which the course is being taken up. In certain cases, the fees may also be very less or might be completely free.

1. Which courses can be taken up through a distance education programme?

You can take up several distance education courses as long as there is some university or college offering it. Almost all the courses that are offered by colleges on a full time basis are also offered on distance education. Some of the popular courses taken up by students are

1. • Bachelor of commerce
   • Master of commerce
   • Computer science course
   • Master of Business Administration and many more.

DEC other than providing the guidelines of the distance education also helps in following functions:

• Supports use of modern technology in education system
• Supplies funds via joint networking
• Resolves the standards of teaching, valuation, and investigation
• Cheers an addition if convenience and innovation in education at university level
• Develops regulations and procedures in respect of admission, certification and evaluation.
• Supports state government to open more institution of higher education and various distance education lessons to make a union of such establishment

Along with this all things DEC also checks with state government and various organizations to find out key areas in which the distance education could be set up. DEC decides criteria for eligibility for the admission. Some flexible and open courses are also promoted by DEC so that normal common man can also do. There is an arrangement of Human Resource in DEC who helps in development of distance education system. Review committees are allocated to study and estimate the acts of various institutes which are under DEC.

For further information please visit the web-site:

http://www.dec.ac.in/

Symbiosis Center for Distance Learning (SCDL) is the one which is engaged in carrying out correspondence courses. Initially SCDL used to be the autonomous institute in India. The reasons behind the emerging of the SCDL are as follows:

• Large number of institutes started their correspondence courses with Symbiosis
• Maintain the methodology of e-learning
• Supplying the printed standard notes that would help students to study without doing practical
• Establishment of other education programs

Symbiosis Open Education Society (SOES) is an establishment of Symbiosis only for open and distance education. The main aim of the SOES is to endorse progress and spread knowledge via correspondence learning system. There are many companies involved which are interested in corporate post graduation courses like Intel, HP, Wipro, IBM, Infosys, Aztec, Xansa India Ltd., GCI Technologies Ltd., etc. At present more than 200000 students from 42 nations are involved with SCDL. The centers of Symbiosis are as follows:

• Symbiosis Bhavan, 1065 B,
  Gokhale Cross Road, Model Colony,
  Pune 411016, Maharashtra, India
  Phone: (020) 66211000 -20 (Hunting lines)
  Fax: (020) 66211040, 66211041
  E-mail ID: http://www.scdl.net/emaillist.asp

• Symbiosis Campus, Sr. No. 94, 95,
  Electronic City Ph – I, Hosur Road,
  Bangalore 560100
  Phone: (080) 66389912 / 14 / 15 / 16
  Fax: (080) 66389997

• C/o Symbiosis Institute of Operations Management(SIOM)
  A-23, Shravan Sector,
  CIDCO, New NASHIK
  Nashik – 422 008
  LL + Fax No: 0253-2392689

The list of some of the Indian universities that helps in distance education diploma are as follows:

• Indira Gandhi National Open University (1985)-
  Maidan Garhi,
  New Delhi-110068
  Tel.: 91-11-29532321, 29535924-32, 29535062-65 (EPABX)
  Fax: 91-11-29536588
  E-mail: rmohan@ignou.ac.in
  Website: http://www.ignou.ac.in

• Kota Open University (1987)
  Rawatbhata Road, Akhelgarh, Kota-324010,
  Rajasthan,
  Tel.: 91-744-421254
  Fax: 91-744-421769

• Nalanda Open University (1987)
  Camp Office, 9, Adarsh Colony, Kidwaipuri,
  Patna – 800001,
  Bihar,
  Tel.: 91-612-234330
  Fax: 91-612-228513

• Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University (1989)
  Dnyanagangotri, Near Gangapur Dam,
  Nashik-422005,
  Maharashtra,
  Tel.: 91-253-340228
  Fax: 91-253-341716
  E-mail: ycmou@vsnl.com
  Website: http://www.ycmou.com

• Madhya Pradesh Bhoj (Open) University (1991)
  Red Cross Bhawan, Shivaji Nagar,
  Bhopal-462016,
  Madhya Pradesh,
  Tel.: 91-755-550606
  Fax: 91-755-550606
  E-mail: rr@rbubhop.mp.nic.in

• U.P.Rajarshi Tandon Open University (1999)
  17, Maharshi Dayanand  Marg (Thornhill Road),
  Allahabad -21100,
  Uttar Pradesh,
  Tel.: 91-532-621839
  Fax: 91-532-621839
  E-mail: http://sanyal@nde.vsnl.net.in

• Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Open University (1982)
  Road No.46, Jubilee Hills,
  Hyderabad – 500033,
  Andhra Pradesh
  Tel.: 91-40-3544910
  Fax: 91-40-3544830
  E-mail: braouap@hdl.dot.net.in

The results are put up on the web-sites of the various universities in which a student has sought admission in. Sometimes a student is given a Login account where he/ she will receive mails from the universities about the details of exams, score cards, etc. The various results that are usually put on the web-sites are:

• Entrance Examination Results
• Weekend or Timely test results
• In some cases the practical exam results
• Term end examination scorecards
• Post Graduation results
• Revaluation i.e. rechecking results

The different universities and their result web-sites are as follows:

• Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU)
  http://www.ignou.ac.in/results.htm

• Andhra University
  http://www.andhrauniversity.info/sde/results.html

• Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University
  http://www.ycmou.com/cms/

• Dr.B.R.Ambedkar Open University
  http://www.braou.ac.in/

• Tamil Nadu Open University, Chennai
  http://www.tnou.ac.in/

• Annamalai University
  http://annamalaiuniversity.ac.in/results/getdegree.php?sys=ous

• Karnataka State Open University (KSOU)
  http://www.ksoumysore.com/

• Nalanda Open University
  http://www.nalandaopenuniversity.com/

• Netaji Subhas Open University
  http://www.wbnsou.com/

A student has to usually enter his enrollment number with the course name and press the button next to the field. A window showing the grades, term marks and the over all total in each and every subject is displayed. The above process is easy because the universities have their particular web sites. If the universities do not have their web sites a person has to visit various links given by their university for results.