DISTANCE LEARNING!! (ARTS)

People often choose to take up a job before completing graduation for
various reasons like a desire for practical expertise or financial crises.
The good news is that without the burden of lectures, you can easily get
a degree in Arts. Today, graduation and post graduation are available in
distance learning through which students can have a degree under their
belt

COURSES AVAILABLE:

In an attempt to improve the level of literacy in the country, even the
government is banking upondistance learning. Almost all universities in India
today have a distant learning department that offers several courses in the
various fields. In Arts, the most commonly chosen subjects are
Economics,Political Science, Philosophy, History, Psychology,
Sociology,Literature, etc.You can get a Bachelor of Arts (BA) as well
as Master of Art(MA) degree in these subjects throughdistance learning.
Apart from these commonly offered courses, certain universities like
Indira Gandhi National Open University(IGNOU)offer specialisation in
BA in Tourism Studies, etc.

The duration for any Bachelor’s degree course is three years, and that
for Master’s is two years,divided into Part I and Part II.

Application procedure:

Applying for distance learning courses is simple. The forms are usually made available from the first week of July to September, which you can pick up either from the university or any other prescribed centres. The forms cost around Rs 100 for MA courses (Part I and II), Rs 50 for BA (SYBA and TYBA) and Rs 70 (for FYBA) in cash.

“The forms are available anywhere and you do not have to run to the university for it,” says Abhishek Goradia, who is pursuing his MA (History) through distance learning. The centres are mostly colleges listed under the respective university. For example, application forms for the University of Mumbai are also available in Raigad District and Ratnagiri.

Just like applying for other full-time courses, you need to fill the application form and submit it at the university/select centres along with the relevant documents.

Fees

Compared to other postgraduate courses offered in other institutions courses in Arts are much cheaper, “I just paid around Rs 2,500 for my course,” says Neil Joshi, a reporter with The Free Press Journal, who has just finished his MA Political Science (Part I), “I had to pay only Rs 2,000 for History,” recalls Goradia. If you are opting for course material from the university then it will cost you at the most Rs 700-800 extra.

Course structure

While BA comprises six subjects, MA is divided into two parts with four (compulsory) subjects Optional lectures, called Personal Contact Programmes (PCP), are conducted for distance learning students. These are from December to April. “I did not attend any classes as there was no pressure and I had a job to handle,” says Joshi. These are held in selected colleges of the university.

Study material

There are no prescribed books; nevertheless, there are a lot of reference material suggested to students. “I got a list of books around March,” says Goradia.

Apart from the reference material suggested, one can now also find information on the Internet. Frequenting the library, and talking to ex-students and finding out the best texts are a good option. Some universities also provide their own study material.

So with a little bit of confidence to do it by yourself, a course of in Arts shouldn’t be a difficult task.