UGC Introduces New Enrolment Procedure For Students Seeking Admission To ODL And Online Programmes: Check The Details

HYDERABAD: The University Grant Commission (UGC) has introduced new enrolment procedure for Open and Distance Learning (ODL) and Online programmes for 2024-25 academic year, as a part of which the students have to create Distance Education Bureau (DEB)-ID mandatorily.

The change in the procedure, effective from September 2024, is aimed at ensuring that students enrol only in the approved Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs).

“The UGC (ODL Programmes and Online Programmes) Regulations, 2020 has set the minimum standards for such programmes, and a list of recognised institutions is available on the UGC Distance Education Bureau website. Recent issues of unrecognised institutions admitting students highlighted the need for this standardised procedure,” UGC Chairman Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar said.

“To safeguard the students’ interests, the UGC has developed a mechanism requiring students to register on the UGC-DEB portal and create a unique DEB-ID using their Academic Bank of Credit (ABC)-ID. This DEB-ID will be mandatory for all students, except for foreign learners. The DEB-ID will remain valid for lifetime,” he said and urged the HEIs to implement this new admission process.

The UGC stipulates the minimum standards for offering open and distance learning and online programmes by higher educational institutions. The UGC releases year-wise list of universities recognised or entitled by it to offer the ODL and Online courses at the Distance Education Bureau website https://deb.ugc.ac.in/

In an attempt to protect students from unrecognized institutions and increase the transparency in the enrolment process, the UGC, in a meeting on June 25, 2024, decided to standardise the admission procedure.

The academic session beginning September 2024 (revised from July-August, 2024) and onwards.

How to enrol as per the new procedure

• Student intending to enrol in ODL and Online programmes need to register on the UGC-DEB web portal mandatorily (https://deb.ugc.ac.in/ and https://deb.ugc.ac.in/StudentDebId) with their Academic Bank of Credit (ABC)-ID for generating a unique DEB-ID.
• The DEB-ID once generated will remain valid for lifelong ODL and Online learning
• The UGN has also prescribed other precautions. For details Click here

Step 1: Create Academic Bank of Credit (ABC)-ID

Step 2: Create Distance Education Bureau (DEB)-ID

Step 3: Enrol in a UGC recognized Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) using the DEB-ID

Step 4: Complete admission procedure in the Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) using the DEB-ID

How to Create ABC-ID

• Students can create ABC ID through their DigiLocker account
• For the step-by step guide on how to create ABC-ID: Click here
• For video guide: Click here

How to create DEB-ID

• Visit the official website of UGC Distance Education Bureau: https://deb.ugc.ac.in/StudentDEBId/ABCID
• Enter your ABC-ID
• Generate DEB-ID

The UGC has requested all Higher Educational Institutions are to ensure smooth implementation of the new enrolment procedure for ODL and Online by doing the requisite API integration process.