Overseas briefing - India - Court casts doubt on PhD by post

A ruling by the Indian Supreme Court has cast doubt on the credibility of distance-learning postgraduate degrees. An appeal was launched after the High Court ruled that a student who had no undergraduate degree but did have a postgraduate qualification that had been earned via a correspondence course had to be admitted to a university course for which a basic-level degree was a prerequisite. In quashing the ruling, the Supreme Court said the requirement of a basic-level degree could not be side-stepped by a higher degree from an open university, The Times of India reported. The decision will come as a blow to those trying to boost higher-education participation rates in India through the expansion of e-learning and distance-learning courses.