Distance education for executives catching on

Freshers with a degree through distance education, however, are at a distinct disadvantage vis-a-vis regular degree holders .

Over 2.8 million students are currently using the distance education (DE) programme to get their degrees, according to the University Grants Commission (UGC) data. Yet, DE is still regarded as the 'poor cousin' of the conventional classroom learning method "" especially for freshers.

While most companies send their employees for executive education programmes at various IIMs and IITs, freshers' recruitment is mostly based on conventional degrees since the belief is that distance learning does not enjoy the same value as regular classroom programmes. Why is it so?

Anand Nayak, Human Resource head, ITC, says: "Distance education provides very limited opportunities for case discussions or analysis. So, while we prefer to recruit freshers who have followed the conventional mode of education, experienced employees are encouraged to pursue higher education through distance learning methods.

For instance, at any given time in a year, about 25 per cent of ITC's management employees pursue executive education programmes at the IIMs."

V Sudhakar Ram, CEO, Mastek, a global information technology outsourcing company, says: "At the entry level, we would not like to take in freshers who got their degrees through distance education.

However, we send our executives to the IIMs for executive education courses and encourage them to opt for the distance learning method as an additional qualification only."

Retail giants like Spencer's also prefer to recruit freshers who have got degrees through the conventional method of education.

"Most students till date opted for distance education because they did not get through the regular classroom programmes. So quality automatically suffers," Amal Gupta, head, HR services, Spencer's Retail Limited says.

"We always recruit freshers or trainees from retail management institutions," Gupta added. Fast moving consumer goods ( FMCG) companies like Marico India also prefer conventional MBAs and chartered accountants.

But there are exceptions The teachers' training programme through distance learning, for instance, has emerged as a solution to educational needs of the country, accessibility being one of them.

Over 30,000 untrained teachers in Uttarakhand received their training recently and now over 240,000 teachers in Bihar will pursue their one-year diploma in primary education through distance learning.

The Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) has set the target for DE enrolment at 40 per cent of the overall higher education enrolment from the current 25 per cent in five years. The ministry is said to have set aside Rs 8,000 crore this purpose.

Technological break-throughs are expected to boost the use of internet for distance education. Interactive Onsite Learning (IOL) is an education platform provided by DirecWay Global Education (DWGE), an education initiative of Hughes and one of the world's leading broadband service provider for the consumer and corporate segment.

In India, DWGE has tied up with premier management schools like IIFT-Delhi, IIM-Bangalore, IIM-Calcutta, IIM-Kozhikode, IIT-Delhi, Manipal University, Manipal, Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), Mumbai, and XLRI Jamshedpur to provide educational programmes to fresh graduates and working professionals.

Among the host of online courses offered by the premier institutions, IIM-Calcutta (IIM-C) offers one-year executive programme in business management, programme for development of strategic skills and a programme for development of successful entrepreneurs.