Pondi University's Distance Education. Review on Pondicherry University

Pondicherry University (PU) is a Central University located in the Union Territory of Pondicherry. PU offers several innovative & interesting courses under it’s Directorate of Distance Education (DDE) particularly in the Master’s stream. Notable among these in the Master of Marketing Management (MMM), Master of Financial Management (MFM), Master of Foreign Trade (MFT) etc. These courses are a value addition for working executives in terms of knowledge enhancement and in getting a broader & better understanding of the particular specialization that the course offers.

PU’s Distance Education offers two choices. One can choose to enroll in their correspondence course, where there are no contact classes and the student has to send his work sheets or assignments from time to time for evaluation. The second option which seems to be more popular offers contact classes in selected cities and metros. In this case PU has tied-up with certain colleges such as Loyola College, Chennai and St.Joseph’s, Bangalore. All paper work and correspondence is handled by staff located at these tie-up colleges.

In August 2004, I enrolled for the MFM course and submitted my application & fees at Loyola College, Chennai. MFM seemed more relevant to me than M.Com cause the latter concentrates more on book-keeping and accounting while the former deals with finance and financial services. Since I was working in a BPO & had erratic work schedules, I opted for the correspondence course rather than the contact-class system. The staff at Loyola told me that the forms will be forwarded to PU & henceforth they will have nothing to do with me as they are responsible only for the contact class students. So far, so good.

In September 2004 I moved out of Chennai to Hyderabad. During my transit days, PU had sent my course material and other papers to my Chennai address by registered post, which was returned back to them because the addressee’s home remained locked. By the time I informed PU to record my change of address the books had gone back to Pondicherry. Both PU & the postal authorities had been extremely prompt in discharging their duties. Here’s a toast in their name – Cheers!! I sent two letters from Hyderabad to PU along with a Demand Draft for Rs.100 towards recording my change of address. In the mean-time I moved to the United States and sent another letter from here requesting them to send the course books to my Hyderabad address. No response.

Now for the bouquets & brick-bats……….

While the most obvious advantage of the DDE course is to study at your own pace at home. The subjects and the course material are good. I happened to go through the materials of my friend and I found that they were very relevant to the industry requirements. The fee structure also seems moderate to me. PU had been prompt in the first instance when it processed my papers and sent my books. If you opt for contact classes, you have the advantage of good faculty & staffs as PU’s tie-up colleges are among the best in the country.

When it comes to the cons, PU has not been efficient in keeping track of correspondence or responding to them. While their web-site – https://pondiuni.org is pretty exhaustive when it comes to giving information about courses, fee structures, examination dates and centers, they have not been savvy enough to include an e-mail address to establish communication with students who study from remote corners. If Universities themselves do not come forward to make use of technology, then when can we see e-governance?

Well, my experience is not a stray one. Another friend of mine moved from Chennai to Coimbatore and has been waiting for his books for a little over five years now.