Chennai: University of Madras has stopped admissions to eight undergraduate and postgraduate courses this year as it awaits extension of approval from the University Grants Commission’s Distance Education Bureau (DEB).The UG courses include fine arts, sociology, French and geography, while PG courses include journalism and communication, Christian studies and geography. The Institute of Distance Education (IDE) used to offer 16 UG courses and 22 PG courses.Admission to distance-mode programmes started in June. However, students complained that the university has not admitted students in popular programmes such as sociology, French and geography this year.“Of the 38 UG and PG programmes offered by the IDE, eight courses were due for extension of approval for the 2026-27 academic year. The DEB asked the university to rename IDE as the Centre for Distance and Online Education (CDOE) in compliance with UGC’s regulations. Now, it asked another query,” said B Devamainthan, director (in charge), IDE. The latest query is about appointing a full-time director to the IDE.“The university prepared a reply, and we are expecting the extension of approval from DEB within the next few days. After getting the approval, we will start admissions to these programmes,” he said.Professors said the main issue is that the university has been functioning without a vice-chancellor for three years. “The university cannot appoint a full-time director to IDE without a vice-chancellor. It needs to advertise, invite applications and appoint the full-time director,” a professor from the university said.The university is planning to launch eight online UG and PG programmes, including BBA, BCom, BA (French), and other courses this academic year. “The university has prepared video content for one semester for these courses. After preparing the video content for another semester, we will launch these online programmes this year. These courses have no jurisdictional boundaries, and the university can enrol students from other states and outside the country as well,” Devamainthan said.This year, the university has enrolled 12,000 students in the UG, PG and diploma programmes. In the two admission sessions last year, it enrolled more than 30,000 students and MBA programmes attracted more students.
