The abovementioned excerpt by famous American economists and academics has found the right place in a developing country like India where along with other economical perspectives, grade inflation is a real problem and in layman’s view, graduating from a college that offers online bachelor degrees does not mean any credibility from the perspective of the Indian corporate sector.
The de jure reality of 95% grades is only giving the students of India a false hope and stamp which neither equates the term talent nor functions as a good reference for the future job prospects and about such statement, the Cornell Experiment conducted by the Cornell University of New York provides sufficient grounds.
Despite the existence of the negative mutter about the grade inflation topic in the background, the weight of a bachelor’s degree and colleges that offer online bachelor degrees still holds the high ground in the job market of India.
In the current market of degree inflation, the question might be raised by the students, ‘Does colleges that offer online Bachelor degrees possess any value in 2022?’ – yes, it does.
Even to an inflated economy, a silver coin is still a coin! Thus, it does not matter how much grade and degree inflation has already affected the education system along with the economy of India, it is extremely important to hold the right degree, from the right college or else you might end up in the gutter despite having the right skill for the job.
In this article, we shall shed light as to why a bachelor’s degree is important and what are the best colleges that offer online bachelor degrees, owing to the worldwide pandemic situation going on. Let’s have a look!
Why is it Important to have a Bachelor’s Degree?
According to the famous President of the USA, John F. Kennedy, an investment made to college education shall always pay off in life.
The grade inflation and employment issues of India might not get solved instantly with students having a bachelor’s degree or getting admitted to colleges that offer online bachelor degrees which are affordable but it shall not further the problem as well.
In a country like India where the competition is huge owing to the population, it is important to have a bachelor’s degree to bag any minimal of job in the corporate sector to secure a comfortable livelihood. Also, a basic bachelor’s degree is needed for any student to take a government job exam or any kind of competitive exam for that matter.
Unlike the Western World, the Indian job market does not provide anything for the high school graduates and due to the grade inflation that every other educational board of India follows these days; the Indian market does not consider high school graduates as a proper degree anymore. Hence, a bachelor’s degree is the first step to making yourself an earnable member of your family.
Apart from the job aspect, a bachelor’s degree shall provide you with a better chance at getting higher degrees such as MBA which essentially provides you with a better scope at the job market. Also, if you are interested in a particular subject, you can always secure a master’s degree as well.
The Pandemic Effect on Online Degrees – Does it Worth it?
The ongoing pandemic across the whole world has provided more time to spare at home and less time to commute to work or school. Depicting the scenario of writer Isaac Asimov’s short story ‘The Fun They Had’, the world has become a virtual school within the limits of the square screens at our homes.
With schools and colleges shut across the world, colleges that offer online bachelor degrees have essentially come to the rescue of the students and the academically hungry people.
The concept of remote learning rose to the surface along with remote working in 2020. However, the question remains – does online degrees worth it?
In a recent journal scholar Karen Glover has essentially brought the topic of the worth of online degrees and colleges that offer online bachelor degrees in this journal, she has been vocal about the hardships that come along with online degrees and how the companies often view an online degree as something unacknowledged. Such actions often discredit the colleges that offer online bachelor’s degrees.
However, in contradictory to the traditional viewpoint of the companies and the job field, online education has been proved to be useful in various cases and there are research papers that provide observational contentions as to how and why online degrees are beneficial.
Further, given the Covid-19 situation, people have struggled with the concept of everything online but eventually have accepted and given into the situation and the pandemic teaching has mostly been about the art of letting go of traditional thinking.
From a recent survey of the US based students, it was found that more than 52% of the undergraduate students perceived their online college education to be a better experience than offline classroom college experience.
Further, the apposite approach towards online learning can be traced since the year 2014 in many Western Countries such as Germany where it had been observed that Germany’s online learning market is growing a rate of 8.5% annually which is 4 times higher than the country’s economical growth.
Hence, it is safer to conclude that the pandemic effect on online learning or degree is nothing but a scapegoat and from the online degree and e-learning is the only future in this world with scarce resources and raging population.
How a Bachelor Degree Helps in Securing Jobs in India – The Advantages and Disadvantages of Securing an Online Bachelor Degree in India
It is true that the pandemic situation owing to the Covid-19 has spoon-fed online education to the people in general, but it had not been an alien concept altogether.
E-learning or online education had been on a growth spurt since 2016 in India. Along with the Digital India initiative taken by the Prime Minister of India, the value of online education and colleges that offer online bachelor degrees have faced with a growth rate of 52% since 2016.
However, despite such advancement of the system of e-learning, even more so with the dawn of the pandemic, online education and the variety of colleges that offer online bachelor degrees have their share of qualities that can be categorized into a long list of advantages and disadvantages.
With the number of users to be enrolled for online education is expected to be growing from 1.6 to 9.6 since 2016 in India, the cost effective system that many colleges are trying to adapt has various downfalls which is the main concern in the job sector.
Let’s have a look on the pros and cons list of the colleges that offer online bachelor degrees in India, without prejudice to the quality of education.
Advantages
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- Cost Effective – Online education is essentially cost effective, without having to adhere to expensive classrooms and other necessary items to decorate a classroom. A person can be taught on online from anywhere, with the help of a stable internet connection and that is one of the biggest advantages of online bachelor degrees.
- Time Effective – While it is still an alien concept pertaining to the rural India that does not have proper internet connection or the availability of smartphones, the privilege of obtaining online bachelor degrees essentially saves time and a student can have a part time job while aspiring to have a bachelor’s degree on his/her desired subject.
- Independent Learning System – Colleges that offer online bachelor degrees provide their student with a concept of independent learning system minus the peer pressure or the constant reminders of the deadlines. Students attain more freedom of mind during an e-learning session, without having to be constricted within the four walls of a classroom.
- Government Accredited Programs – There are plenty colleges that offer online bachelor degrees accredited by governmental initiatives and the Distance Education Council of India.
Disadvantages
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- Lack of Social Exposure – The students of online degrees do not get exposed to the right amount social interaction and it causes the lack of confidence among students and while colleges that offer online bachelor degrees provide for various social skill courses, there is nothing like a practical lesson!
- Fraudulent Courses – It is one of the major setbacks of the online degree era where fraudulent courses are there to lure students in with low costing and eye candy brochures.
- The Lack of Labs and Workshops – For various specific bachelor degrees where the experience of laboratory or various workshops with face to face interactions are necessary, online education lacks in quality as under whatever means, no colleges that offer online bachelor degrees can provide the students with the substitute of a hand in hand laboratory works such as required in engineering degrees.
How to Choose the Best College that Offer Online Bachelor Degrees in India – The Difference between Online Bachelor Degrees and Distance Bachelor Degrees
Colleges and Universities are always tough to choose. If you have a well-sorted grade from the High School, it becomes even tougher to choose a college to obtain a bachelor degree that shall decide on your future and your career.
While it is true that the recent pandemic of Covid-19 has necessarily increased the vanity of obtaining online courses, colleges that offer online bachelor degrees are not the first choice of the parents owing to flawed knowledge of the same.
There exist some tricks and treats to understand which college to choose for your online bachelor degree and which colleges that offer online bachelor degrees, are complete off-limits.
The question of ‘how to choose’ shall be answered once we clear the age-old doubt between colleges that offer online bachelor degrees and colleges that offer distance bachelor degrees.
The difference between online courses and distance courses is subtle and that is one of the reasons why many of the students understand the why one is completely different from the other.
The curriculum of colleges that offer online bachelor degrees essentially hold online classes over an online platform such as Google Meet or WebEx and conduct the classes regularly that is quite similar to the offline classes minus the utmost need of the students to be seated in a classroom.
However, distance bachelor degrees are not of the same category and they do not provide with regular classes but they choose two or three classes per month that are often held in an offline classroom.
Further, the final examinations in cases of distance degree are held in offline manner while that is not the case with colleges that offer online bachelor degree courses.
Therefore, in order to understand the scope of the colleges that offer online bachelor degrees, one needs to differentiate the former from the latter first in order to have better choice at the Universities and colleges that offer online bachelor degrees courses.
Once, the distinction is made, a student needs to carefully examine several ingredients of the colleges that offer online bachelor degrees for further proceeding.
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- The Subject – First, you need to choose a subject on which you shall apply for an online bachelor degree. Just like offline procedures, colleges that offer online bachelor degrees specialize in one subject or the other.
- UGC Online Degree Regulations, 2018 and UGC (Open and Distance Learning Programmes and Online Programmes) Regulations, 2020 – Secondly, you need to be associated with the concept of UGC Online Degree Regulation of 2018 and UGC (Open and Distance Learning Programmes and Online Programmes) Regulations, 2020 that provide certain rules, regulations and conditions for colleges that offer online bachelor degrees i.e. the college must have existed for the period of Five years, and must have a proper NAAC (National Institutional Ranking Framework) accreditation.
- NAAC Score – Further, it is the new rule of the UGC that colleges which offer online bachelor degrees courses must have a NAAC score of 3.26 or above or shall have their rank within the first 100 Universities at least twice.
- NIRF Ranking – NIRF or National Institute Ranking Framework is one of the most credible platform to understand and obtain the creditability of a college that offers online bachelor degrees and before enrolling into any online course, every student must check the NIRF ranking at all cost.
- Study Material and Course Time – Once all these points are checked out, you need to check their study material and the course time. There exist many guidelines regarding the course time and the study material along with the subjects that are to be taught and if you choose a college that does not provide such accorded course, you need to take a better look.
- Scope of Internship and Placement – Lastly, you need to check their history of internships and placements and whether they have a separated folder at their website for such information.
15 Best Colleges that offer Online Bachelor Degrees in India
Distance degree courses have always been a integral part of the Indian education system since a long time but the rise of colleges that offer Online Bachelor Degrees is relatively new in India and it had only started with the UGC taking the recognition in the year of 2018.
As it has been reiterated above, owing to the pandemic situation, online degrees might be looked down upon but the rise of more and more recognition by colleges that offer online bachelor degrees only provides the rosy picture of what the future entails.
1. Amity University
Established in the year of 2005, Amity University falls under the category of colleges that offer bachelor degrees in different subjects.
Although a private institute, Amity University is recognised by UGC through State Legislature Act.
2. SRM University, Chennai
Exceptionally accredited by NAAC with a grade of A++, SRM University of Chennai comes under top 30 University in the ranking by NIRF and SRM provides plethora of different online courses for students all over the India.
They provide various UG programmes in Humanities, Social Science, Management, Health Science etc.
3. IIT Madras
Even though the courses provided by IIT Madras are limited, it is regarded as one of the best colleges that offer online bachelor degrees for students who are yearning for a science background.
This institute is offering a program in programming and data science and the being one of the most accredited colleges that offer online bachelor degrees, the course certificate of this college has a different ground for students as a whole.
4. Jain University
Founded in the year of 1990, Jain University of Bangalore is one of the great colleges that offer online bachelor degrees. It is approved by UGC and this university has been accredited by NAAC as a grade A college for the purpose of different online bachelor degrees.
In the 2021 NIRF ranking, this university has ranked among the top 100 Universities of India.
5. NMIMS Mumbai – Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies
Being one of the oldest Universities of Mumbai, NMIMS is a private institute that has been accredited by NAAC being an A+ category of colleges that offer online bachelor degrees in India.
This college is one of the best online college that provide with integrated UG courses such as B.Com Hons, B.B.A, B.A. etc.
6. Aligarh Muslim University
Accreted as one of the top 20 research institutes in India, Aligarh Muslim University provides various online courses in bachelor degree categories and it is regarded as one of the top 100 colleges that offer online bachelor degrees in India by NAAC as well.
7. Alagappa University
Being the 33rd college in the rank of NIRF in the year of 2021, Alagappa University of Tamil Nadu is one of the best colleges that offer online bachelor degrees as it offers several bachelor degrees for students to explore and choose from.
Further, one of the best qualities of Alagappa University is that it has collaborative online programmes with several reputed universities of United Kingdom, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and China.
8. Symbiosis International
Although the online learning course section of Symbiosis is fairly recently, this is one of the most reliable colleges that offer online bachelor degrees in Economics, Business Administration, Finance & Accounts.
9. Chandigarh University
Owing to the recent pandemic situation, Chandigarh University has started offering various bachelor degrees that includes the Bachelor of Arts and Commerce.
Approved by UGC, the online course of Chandigarh University are reliable and accredits great career afterwards.
10. Periyar University of Tamil Nadu
Accredited with grade A by NAAC, this private institute is one of the best colleges that offer online bachelor degrees in India.
While it is mostly known for its well curriculum-ed commerce and business administration course, this college also provides various science subjects as well.
11. University of Mysore
Another great college with NAAC grade A accreditation, University of Mysore provides various bachelor online degrees that are cost effective and mostly provides the students with good career prospective at the end of the course.
12. Manipal University
A privately deemed university, Manipal University is one of the great colleges that offer online bachelor degrees in India.
The online course of Manipal University has well curriculum and provides with a great scope for the students to thrive in internships and in the job sector.
13. Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU)
JNU’s online courses are recent and even though JNU does not provide a wide range of bachelor courses on various subjects but being one of the best Universities of India, JNU provides great online bachelor degrees on Arts and Humanities, Media education, Finance and Account etc.
14. Mizoram University
Mizoram University has recently added various online courses. Being one of the reputed and NAAC accredited University of India, Mizoram University is one of the best colleges that offer online bachelor degrees.
15. Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI)
The recent wing of Jamia Millia Islamia has released various online bachelor degrees on Arts which a student can avail if one wishes to adhere to one of the reputed universities in India.
Conclusion
Online courses and online degrees are the new future of Digital India! While it has its perks and cons on different degrees, it cannot be denied that online degrees are the inevitable of the future and colleges that offer online bachelor degrees would become more and more important.
India is a growing sector where the concept of online education and online courses has just bloomed and in this pandemic era, many students are already choosing the option of online courses over offline courses.
While at present, there are only a handful of university and colleges that offer online bachelor degrees, but the future is bright and despite grade inflation and degree inflation, online courses would change the face of Indian education to a great deal.
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