The SCDL, with 2 lakh students, had tabled a proposal for being accorded deemed university status for its distance-learning institute. The proposal is stuck owing to legal lacunae, as the DEC, unlike the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), does not have the independent statutory status to grant accreditation to institutes. “The Union government is planning to introduce a bill that will give the DEC independent statutory status. But till then no private distance-learning institute in the city can get deemed university status,” said S B Mujumdar, chancellor of Symbiosis International University.

The SCDL has initiated a forum of around 40 private distance learning institutes in the country that is lobbying with the Union Ministry of HRD to give the DEC the required powers. At present, the DEC works as a department of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). There are also 13 state open universities formed according to state legislations. For private distance learning institutes, the DEC is the body that gives recognition and the recognition has to be renewed every year. “But if a private institute fulfilling UGC criteria of academic excellence applies for deemed university status, the DEC does not have the authority to recognise the proposal. This is what we are trying to address,” said Swati Mujumdar, director of SCDL.

Though the government is understood to be inclined towards recognising the DEC as an independent statutory authority, the present open universities are allegedly not in favour of the idea. “Private institutes are already attracting more enrolment than the state open universities. If deemed university status comes through, the gap will widen. As in most of the private institutes, use of technology has made the process of distance learning more user-friendly,” said Mujumdar.