Management of Distance Education

The education systems in India have seen many changes i.e. from Gurukul, Madarsa and convent/public school education to the era of distance education and e-education. Distance education system has acquired the status of an important social organization after its fruitful existence of more than two decades. It is making a valuable contribution in fulfilling the educational objectives of the society, with its advent as a viable supplement to the conventional education system. The quality of educational programmes offered by distance education system depends upon management and structures of distance education system. The management of distance education involves four key elements of management i.e. planning, organizing, implementing and controlling. The present study intends to make an effort to appraise the management of distance education system in India with specific reference to Indira Gandhi National Open University, an apex body and a national university in the field of distance education by systems approach and to evaluate the effectiveness of each subsystem.