How Many Universities Offer UGC-Entitled Online Degrees? DEB Data, 2021 to 2026

For the session beginning August 2026, 146 universities and institutions appear on the UGC Distance Education Bureau's lists for online degree programmes, up from 58 in November 2021. Another 119 appear on the open and distance learning (ODL) lists, which makes 208 distinct institutions across both modes. We counted these from 45 official DEB lists in October 2026.

The full institution-level data behind this page is free to use: download the dataset (CSV, 2,032 rows), with one row per institution per list and a link to each source PDF.

UGC entitled online universities, session by session

The DEB publishes two kinds of online list. Entitled institutions meet the NAAC or NIRF conditions in Regulation 3(B)(a) of the UGC (Open and Distance Learning Programmes and Online Programmes) Regulations, 2020, and can start online programmes without prior UGC approval. Recognised institutions applied and were cleared by the Commission for specific programmes. Some universities sit on both lists for different programmes, so the last column counts each institution once.

Two things stand out. The number of institutions has grown by about 2.5 times in five years, and growth has not slowed: the last three sessions added 20, 11 and 12 institutions. The recognised list is still small, but it went from 2 institutions to 22, so more universities are now getting online programmes cleared one by one instead of through entitlement.

Distance (ODL) universities, session by session

Distance programmes have their own two lists: institutions recognised for ODL programmes, and Category-I universities, which may offer ODL programmes without prior approval under the UGC graded autonomy rules of 2018.

ODL is growing more slowly than online. Between the July-August 2025 and August 2026 sessions, ODL added a net 5 institutions while online added 23. Programme entries on the recognised ODL list fell from 1,403 in January-February 2026 to 1,311 in August 2026, even as the number of institutions rose, while the Category-I list grew from 352 to 423. Earlier ODL lists (2021-22: 60 institutions; 2022-23: 72) used a format that does not allow a like-for-like programme count, so the table starts in 2023-24.

Which kinds of universities offer online degrees now

Private universities have driven most of the growth. In 2022 they were one in five institutions on the online lists. By August 2026 they are the largest group.

ODL looks different. Of the 119 institutions on the August 2026 ODL lists, 48 are state universities and 19 are state open universities, against 27 private universities. Only 57 institutions appear on both the online and the ODL lists, so most universities specialise in one mode.

Where the institutions are

Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh lead in both modes. Karnataka is the clearest online-first state, with 16 online institutions and 3 on the ODL lists.

New on the online lists for August 2026

Comparing the July-August 2025 lists with the August 2026 lists, 25 institutions appear for the first time in that period:

• Entitled (14): Sri Venkateswara University, Pt. Sundarlal Sharma (Open) University, Karnavati University, Sri Siddhartha Academy of Higher Education, St. Aloysius, REVA University, University of Calicut, Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology, Central University of Tamil Nadu, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Bennett University, Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University (Agra) and Swami Rama Himalayan University.

• Recognised (11): TERI School of Advanced Studies, Silver Oak University, BML Munjal University, Usha Martin University, Srinivas University, Sandip University, Ajeenkya D Y Patil University, ATLAS SkillTech University, Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University, RNB Global University and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Open University.

Two institutions on the July-August 2025 online lists do not appear on the August 2026 lists: Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence (one MBA programme) and Shobhit Institute of Engineering & Technology. Learners admitted while a programme was listed are not affected; the DEB says an admission taken in a recognised period stays recognised until the programme is completed.

How we counted

• Source: every list published under Recognition on the UGC-DEB portal for academic years 2021-22 to 2026-27: online entitled, online recognised, ODL recognised and ODL Category-I. That is 45 PDFs, downloaded on 13 October 2026.

• Institutions: each serial-numbered row is one institution. When a university appears on both the entitled and recognised lists in the same session, we count it once, matching on name and state.

• Programme entries: the sum of each list's "number of programmes" column, or a count of the numbered programmes where the list has no such column. A specialisation listed separately (for example MBA Finance and MBA HR) counts as a separate entry.

• Session lists: for 2021-22 we used the DEB's entitled final list. For July-August 2023 we added the DEB's additional entitled list of 18 September 2023. Four scanned lists were read by hand.

• Exclusions: the Category-I ODL page for 2021-22 and 2022-23 shows a November 2019 list, so those years are left out of the Category-I series. IGNOU does not appear on these lists; its prospectus says it is exempt from these regulations.

• Data: the row-level dataset (CSV) lists the academic year, list type, list title, source PDF, serial number, state, institution type, institution name as listed and number of programmes for every row we counted.

• How to cite: Career Bhavan, "How Many Universities Offer UGC-Entitled Online Degrees? DEB Data, 2021 to 2026", October 2026, compiled from UGC-DEB recognition lists.

What this means if you are choosing an online degree

More choice is good, but it also means more brochures saying "UGC approved". The list tells you the institution is cleared for named programmes in a named session, nothing more. Check the programme yourself, create your DEB ID after your ABC ID, and if you are still deciding between modes, read distance education vs online education. For a shortlist in one popular subject, see our UGC-entitled online MBA colleges.

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