Business courses, technical courses online from academic year 2009-2010

Top-rung government and private business and technology schools plan to offer courses through distance education or online courses from the next academic year.

Relevant regulatory bodies, the University Grants Commission (UGC), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and Distance Education Council (DEC) jointly decided to allow all educational institutions to offer distance education courses.

Institutes such as Indian School of Management (IIM) or Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) will need to get the approval of a joint committee of that the three regulatory bodies to offer online courses.

The AICTE will look after courses offered by institutions offering technical education whereas UGC will monitor universities, including deemed universities. The DEC will be the overall regulatory body for open education.

In 2006-07, 1.13 crore students enrolled for higher education in India. This number is expected to rise to two crore by 2010.