Adhyapak.com : Distance Education : Jammu University

Established on 3rd of March 1976 Distance Education aims at diversifying and providing educational opportunities far beyond the close confines of a classroom and making them available to all those who aspire and endeavour for education. It is based on the philosophy that anything, which can be learnt in the regular classroom, can equally be learnt through distance education. It is an innovative system, which is academically sound and economically viable and as such, has proved to be a blessing for those who have no access to education. Motivated by the desire to provide education at the doorsteps of the learners, University of Jammu established the Directorate of Distance Education, (then known as Institute of Correspondence Education) in March, 1976. The courses offered by the Directorate are intended to cater to the following:

Students who have had to discontinue their education in the regular system for various reasons; students in far flung and inaccessible hilly areas of the state; the students who were not accommodated in the mainstream education institutions; in-service persons; women and individuals who regard education as a life time activity.

In recent times there had been stupendous increase in the educational needs of the country. Jammu and Kashmir State has not remained exception to this phenomenon. Despite being affected by virulent terrorism over the period of last one and a half decades, there has been a progressive increase in the demand for higher education in the state. Because of inherent factors and constraints, conventional education institutions were/are unable to cope up with the augmented demand for higher education. The DDE has partly helped to cope up with this demand in the Jammu region.As often now, the DDE is offering a number of postgraduate and undergraduate courses. Besides traditional courses, it is imparting professional courses such as Master of Education, Bachelor of Education and Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration. In the current session, it has launched Postgraduate course in Fisheries. This is a job oriented course and first of its kind through distance mode of education in the country.

Currently, the DDE has study centres one each in muffasil govt degree colleges - Kathua, Poonch, Rajouri, Bhaderwah, Kishtwar and Doda. By these centres, the DDE has truly brought the facility of higher education to the doorsteps of the distance learners of the remote rural, backward and inaccessible hilly areas of the Jammu region. In the immediate future, the DDE has planned to introduce PG course in English, postgraduate diploma courses in English language teaching and computer applications. These courses will especially serve the educational needs of the people of the Jammu region. Plans are also afoot to adopt multi media instructional pattern. Once it is accomplished, it will greatly enrich the learning environment in the region.