ANNA UNIVERSITY CHENNAI

CHENNAI – 600 025

Regulations 2007
(Distance Mode)

Centre for Distance Education

Anna University Chennai
Chennai – 600 025
 ANNA UNIVERSITY CHENNAI
CHENNAI - 600 025
REGULATIONS 2007
PROGRAMMES UNDER DISTANCE EDUCATION MODE

Effective from the academic year 2007 and applicable to the students to be
admitted through Distance Mode at Anna University both in the calendar year
and academic year.

P.G.PROGRAMMES

The following Regulations will be applicable to MBA, MCA and M.Sc

programmes offered through Distance Mode.

1 PRELIMINARY DEFINITIONS AND NOMENCLATURE

In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires:

i. “Programme” means Post graduate Degree Programme : MBA,

MCA, M.Sc.
ii. “Branch” means a specialization or discipline such as MBA,
MCA and M.Sc. like “Technology Management “, “Retail
Management”, “E-Learning”, “Call Centre Management”,
“Computer Science”, “Computer Technology”, “Software
Engineering”, etc.
iii. “Course” means a Theory or Practical subject that is normally
studied in a semester, like Computer Organization,
Organizational Behavior etc.
iv. “Director, Centre for Distance Education” means the
authority of the Unversity to monitor and implement the
programmes offered through Distance Mode.
v. “Study Centre” means a college / institution / organization
designated by Anna University / Director, Centre for Distance
Education by following the procedures prescribed by Authorities
concerned. The study center is to serve as a location for the
conduct of Theory and Laboratory classes as required by the
University.
vi. “Coordinator of Study Centre” means the designated person
of the Study Centre who is responsible for relevant academic
activities and implementation of relevant rules of this
Regulations.
vii. “Course Instructor” means a qualified person appointed by
the Study Centers / Director, Centre for Distance Education to
handle a particular course / to clarify doubts and interact with
the students on the subject and the related matters.
 viii “Counselor” means a qualified person at the level of senior
lecturer / Assistant Professor / Professor in the area of relevant
specilisation, identified by the study centers concerned or
Director, centre for Distance Education of the University. The
counselor is expected to be a facilitator of the teaching learning
process related to the distance education students. He is the
enabler for all services related to initiation and completion of the
course / project works of the students. A counselor may be a
course instructor also.

ix “Director, Academic Courses” means the authority of the

University who is responsible for all academic activities of the
University Departments for implementation of relevant rules of
this Regulation.

x “University” means ANNA UNIVERSITY CHENNAI

2 PROGRAMMES OFFERED THROUGH DISTANCE MODE AND

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS

2.1 P.G. PROGRAMMES OFFERED:

M.B.A.
M.C.A.
M.Sc. Computer Science
M.Sc. Computer Technology
M.Sc. Information Technology
M.Sc. Software Engineering
The above Programmes will be offered through Distance Mode in authori-
zed Study Centres situated in colleges / institutions / organizations that
are selected by Anna University Chennai. A candidate may be offered any
one of the programmes and be attached to a Study centre situated at
colleges / institutions / organisations, where the candidate desires to be
attached to, subject to the satisfaction of other conditions.

2.2. MODE OF STUDY:

Candidates admitted under ‘Distance Mode’ should be available in the

designated colleges / institutions / organisations where the Study Centre is
located when the Counseling sessions / classes are conducted, normally
on Saturdays and Sundays. The students are expected to come prepared
by intensive reading of the course material and utilize the counselling
sessions for discussions. The degrees offered through distance mode are
more learner-oriented, and the student has to take active part in the
 teaching-learning process. Most of the instructions are imparted through
study materials rather than face-to-face communication.
The University follows a multi-pronged methodology that will facilitate self-
learning. The salient features are
 Study Material Prepared according to Self Study Mode by Subject Experts
 Hard Copy and CDs provided
 Case Studies and Hands on Projects provided
 CDs with necessary open source software for hands on experience for
Laboratory Courses
 Audio/Video Presentations and lectures provided through CDs
 Interactive Counseling sessions for doubt clearing by course instructors
and experts
 Guest lectures
 Laboratory sessions with modern laboratories and trained faculty
 Training for written communication skills

2.3 ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS:

2.3.1 Candidates for admission to the first semester of the MBA, MCA and
M.Sc Degree Programmes shall be required to have passed an
appropriate Degree Examination of a recognized University as specified
under qualification for admission in Table I or any other examination of
any recognized University or authority accepted by the Syndicate of
Anna University Chennai as equivalent thereto.
2.3.2 However, the Syndicate of the University may decide to restrict
admission in any particular year to candidates having a subset of
qualifications prescribed in Table I.

2.3.3 Not withstanding the qualifying examination the candidate might have
passed, he/she shall have a minimum level of proficiency in the
appropriate programme / courses as prescribed by the Syndicate of the
University from time to time.

2.3.4 Eligibility conditions for admission such as class obtained, number of

attempts in qualifying examination and physical fitness will be as
prescribed by the Syndicate of the University from time to time.

3 DURATION OF THE PROGRAMMES:

3.1 The minimum and maximum period for completion of the P.G.
Programmes are given below:
 Programme Minimum No. of Maximum No. of
Semesters Semesters
M.B.A. 4 12
M.C.A. 6 16
M.Sc 4 12

3.2 Each semester shall normally consist of 8-10 contact hours or Counseling
sessions for each of the theory and laboratory courses. The Coordinator
of the Study Centre shall ensure that every course instructor outlines the
salient points and also clears any doubts and, in general, helps the
students to use and understand the course material provided.

4 STRUCTURE OF THE PROGRAMME

4.1 Every Programme will have a curriculum and syllabi consisting of core
courses, elective courses and project work.

The Programme may also include seminar / practicals / practical training,

if they are specified in the curriculum. The electives are to be chosen from
the list of electives with the approval of the Director, Centre for Distance
Education.

4.2 The medium of instruction, examination and project report shall be in

English.

4.3 Maximum Marks

The maximum marks assigned to different courses are as follows: Each of

the theory and practical courses (excluding project work) shall carry
maximum of 100 marks of which 20 marks will be through internal
assessment. As regards the project work the total marks would be 400 of
which 80 marks will be through internal assessment and the remaining
320 would be distributed as 120 for Project Report submitted and 200 for
viva-voce examination.

4.4 Project Work

4.4.1 Project work shall be carried out under the supervision of a qualified guide
from a panel of guides approved by the Director, Centre for Distance
Education.
4.4.2 A candidate may, however, in certain cases, be permitted to work on the
project in an Industrial / Research Organization, on the recommendation
of the Coordinator of the Study Centre with the approval of the Director,
Centre for Distance Education. In such cases, the Project work shall be
jointly supervised by an approved guide of the study centre and by a
professionally competent person from the Organization and the student
shall be instructed to meet the guide periodically and attend the review
committee meetings for evaluating the progress.

4.4.3 A project Proposal along with recommendations of Guide and Coordinator

of Study Centre has to be submitted to the Director, Centre for Distance
Education for approval, one month prior to the commencement of the
project semester. Only those projects approved by Director, Centre for
Distance Education can be taken up by the students.

4.4.4 Two project review meetings shall be conducted at the study centre and
projects are to be evaluated by a three-member project committee. A
report on evaluation shall be sent periodically to Director, Centre for
Distance Education.

4.4.5 The Project Report prepared according to approved guidelines and duly
signed by the guide(s) shall be submitted to Coordinator of Study Centre
(see also clauses 4.4.6 and 4.4.7).

4.4.6 The final Project Report for MBA, M.C.A. and MSc. programmes shall be
submitted at the end of the final Semester as per the schedule announced
by the Director, Centre for Distance Education.

4.4.7 If a candidate fails to submit the project report on or before the specified
date, he/she is deemed to have failed in the Project Work and shall re-
register for the same in a subsequent semester.

5 STUDY CENTRES
In order to provide individualised support to its learners the University shall
create various study centres. The Study Centres are the contact points for
the students on all the major aspects of the programmes. These include
Counseling sessions, practicals, library facilities, disseminating information
and facilities for audio-visual training aids. The Study Centres are also
equipped with books on the subjects of the programmes and the books
will be accessible to the students during their visits to the Study Centres.
All the important communications are sent to the Coordinators of the
Study Centres. The Coordinators would display a copy of such important
circulars/notifications on the notice board of the study centre for the
benefit of all the students. The Co-ordinators of the Study Centres are
required to provide advance information about assignments, submission of
 examination forms, list of students admitted to a particular examination,
project work related details, declaration of results and the like.

6 STUDENT COUNSELOR

To help the students in pursuing their courses of study and for general
advices on the academic programmes, a certain number of students will
be attached to a Student Counselor who shall function as Student
Counselor for those students throughout their period of study. Such
Student Counselors shall advise the students and monitor the courses
taken by the students, check the attendance and progress of the students
attached to him/her and counsels them periodically. The Student
Counselor is expected to interact with the students allocated to him
through e-mail, telephone, letter or in person. The Director, Centre for
Distance Education will appoint the Student Counselors from among the
teaching staff of the Anna University Chennai or from the Study Centres.
The Student counselor is expected to submit periodical progress report
about the students under him / her as required by the University.

The functions of the Student Counselor include

• Solving problems experienced by students in usage of Study material

including CDs and use of CDs in the laboratories

• Clarifying the regulations of the programme and the details of rules

therein

• Informing the students about the academic schedule including the

dates of assessments and the syllabus coverage for each assessment

• Analyzing the performance of the students after each test and finding
the ways and means of improving the performance.

• Identifying the weak students, if any and providing additional help or

guidance or coaching to such weak students.

7 PROCEDURES FOR AWARDING MARKS FOR INTERNAL

ASSESSMENT

7.1 Every course instructor is required to maintain an 'ATTENDANCE AND

ASSESSMENT RECORD' which consists of attendance marked in each
counseling session or practical or project work interaction, the test marks
and the record of class work (topic covered, queries asked and feedback
regarding Study materials etc), separately for each course. This should be
submitted to the Coordinator of the Study Centre for checking the conduct
of the interactive counseling sessions, syllabus coverage and the records
of test marks and attendance. At the end of the semester, the record
 should be verified by the Coordinator of the Study Centre who will keep
this document in safe custody for five years. The Director, Centre for
Distance Education or any inspection team appointed by the University
may inspect the records of attendance and assessment of both current
and previous semesters.

7.2 Theory Courses: Two assessments each carrying 100 marks shall be
conducted by the study centre. The total marks obtained in all the tests put
together out of 200, shall be reduced to 20 marks and rounded to the
nearest integer (This implies equal weightage to both the assessments).

7.3 Practical Courses: Every practical exercise / experiment shall be

evaluated based on conduct of experiment / exercise and records
maintained for 10 marks. There shall be at least one mid-semester
test/project for 10 marks.

7.4 Project Work: There shall be three assessments (each 100 marks), by a
review committee, in the project semester. The student shall make
presentation on the progress made before the project review committee.
The Coordinator of the Study Centre shall constitute the review
committee. The internal marks shall be 80 and rounded to the nearest
integer. The reports of the review committee shall be sent to the Director,
Centre for Distance Education for approval.

8 REQUIREMENTS FOR COMPLETION OF A SEMESTER

A candidate who has fulfilled the following conditions shall be deemed to

have satisfied the requirements for completion of a semester.

8.1 Ideally every student is expected to attend all counseling sessions /

classes and secure 100% attendance. However, the student is expected
to attend at least 50% of the counseling sessions / classes.

Therefore, he/she shall secure not less than 50% of overall attendance in
that semester taking into account the total number of periods in all courses
put together attended by the candidate as against the total number of
periods in all courses offered during that semester.

8.2 Candidates who do not complete the semester (as per clause 8.1), will not
be permitted to write the examination at the end of the semester . They
are required to repeat the incomplete semester in the next academic year.
9 REQUIREMENTS FOR APPEARING FOR SEMESTER EXAMINATION

A candidate shall normally be permitted to appear for the semester

examination of the current semester if he / she has satisfied the semester
completion requirements (vide Clause 8) and has registered for
examination in all courses of that semester, as well as the arrears of
previous semesters.

10 END SEMESTER EXAMINATIONS

10.1 There shall be one end semester examination of 3 hours duration in each
theory course. The examinations shall ordinarily be conducted between
May and July during the odd semesters and between November and
January in the even semesters. For the practical examinations (including
project work), both internal and external examiners shall be appointed by
the Director, Centre for Distance Education. The maximum marks for each
theory and practical course shall be 100 comprising of 20 marks for
internal assessment and 80 marks for the end semester examinations.
The following will be the weightages for different courses.

i) Theory course:
Internal Assessment - 20%
End Semester Examination - 80%
ii) Practial courses
Internal Assessment - 20%
End Semester Examination - 80%
iii) Project work
Internal Assessment - 20%
Evaluation of Project Report by external examiner - 30%
Viva-Voce Examination - 50%

10.2 The end semester evaluation of the Project work will be based on the
project report and a Viva-Voce Examination by a team consisting of the
guide and External Examiner(s) who are appointed depending on the
chosen areas of specialization of the students. The External Examiner(s)
shall be appointed by the Director, Centre for Distance Education.

10.3 If a student indulges in malpractice in any of the end semester / internal

examinations, he / she shall be liable for punitive action as prescribed by
the Director, Academic Courses as per the University regulations from
time to time

10.4 WITHDRAWAL FROM EXAMINATIONS

10.4.1. A candidate may, for valid medical / official reasons be granted
permission to withdraw from appearing examinations for all courses or
 any of the courses for that particular semester in which withdrawal is
made.

10.4.2. Withdrawal application shall be valid only if the candidate is otherwise

eligible to write the examination and if it is made within TEN days prior
to the commencement of the semester examination on
recommendation by the Co-ordinator of study centre and submitted to
the Director, Academic Courses in prescribed format. Withdrawal
facility is available for only once in the whole period of study.
Withdrawal shall not be construed as an appearance for the eligibility
of award of Degree.

10.4.3 Notwithstanding the requirement of mandatory TEN days notice,

applications for withdrawal for special cases under extraordinary
conditions will be considered on the merit of the case.

11 PASSING REQUIREMENTS

11.1 A candidate who secures not less than 50% of total marks prescribed for
the courses with a minimum of 45% of the marks prescribed for the end-
semester Examination in both theory and practical courses shall be
declared to have passed in the Examination.

11.2 If a candidate fails to secure a pass in a particular course he / she shall

reappear for the examination till he / she secures a pass. However, the
internal assessment marks obtained by the candidate in the first attempt
shall be retained and considered valid for all subsequent attempts.

11.3 A student who has passed any course / all the courses prescribed in the
curriculum for the award of the degree shall not be permitted to re-enroll to
improve his/her marks in a course or the aggregate marks respectively.

12 ISSUE OF MARK SHEETS

12.1 Individual mark sheet for each semester will be issued, containing the
following information through the Coordinator of the Study Centre, after
the publication of the results:

(i) The marks obtained in each subject in internal assessment and end
semester examination.
(ii) Whether the candidate has passed or failed in the courses
concerned.
13 ELIGIBILITY FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE

13.1 A student shall be declared eligible for the award of the degree if he/she
has
i. Successfully passed all the courses as specified by the curriculum
corresponding to MBA/MCA/M.Sc degree.
ii. No disciplinary action is pending against him/her.

13.2 The award of the degree must have been approved by the Syndicate.

14 CLASSIFICATION OF THE DEGREE AWARDED

14.1 A candidate who qualifies for the award of the Degree (vide clause 13)
having passed the examination in all the courses in his/her first
appearance within the specified minimum number of semesters (clause
3.1) securing an aggregate of not less than 75% of total marks (Internal
assessment plus end semester examination marks) shall be declared to
have passed the examination in First Class with Distinction. Further, the
authorized break of study (vide clause 16.1) will not be counted for the
purpose of classification.

14.2 A candidate who qualifies for the award of the Degree (vide clause 13)
having passed the examination in all the courses within the specified
minimum number of semesters (clause 3.1), reckoned from his/her
commencement of study plus two years for MBA/M.Sc and three years for
MCA, securing an aggregate of not less than 60% of total marks (internal
assessment plus semester examination marks) shall be declared to have
passed the examination in First Class. For this, the authorized break of
study (vide clause 16.1) will not be counted for the purpose of
classification.

14.3 All other candidates (not covered in clauses 14.1 and 14.2) who qualify for
the award of the degree (vide Clause 13) shall be declared to have
passed the examination in Second Class.

15 REVALUATION OF ANSWER SCRIPTS

15.1 A candidate can apply for revaluation of his/her semester examination

answer paper in a theory course, within 2 weeks from the declaration of
results, on payment of a prescribed fee through proper application to the
Controller of Examinations through the Coordinator of the Study Centre
concerned and Director, Centre for Distance Education. The Controller of
Examination will arrange for the revaluation and the results will be
intimated to the candidate concerned through the Coordinator of the Study
 Centre. Revaluation is not permitted for practical courses and for project
work.

15.2 Copies of the answer scripts for the theory course(s) can be obtained from
the Controller of Examinations, Anna University on payment of fee
specified for this purpose.

16 TEMPORARY BREAK OF STUDY FROM A PROGRAMME

16.1 If any candidate [student who has been admitted after paying the
admission fees] intends to temporarily discontinue the programme at any
point of time during the programme for valid reason (such as medical
reasons / official reasons) and to rejoin the programme in the semester for
which the candidate had obtained the break of study at a later period, the
following rules are prescribed:

16.2 The candidate shall apply in the prescribed format to the Director, Centre
for Distance Education not later than the last date for enrolling for the
semester examination of the semester in question with necessary
documents.
16.3 A candidate shall be allowed break of study for not more than two
semesters subjects to the conditions that the candidate shall complete the
programme within the maximum number of semester allowed for the
programme (MBA / M.Sc. – 12 semester, MCA 16 semester) as given in
Clause 3.2 of the Regulations).
16.4 The candidate shall pay a break of study fees of Rs.5,000/- for every
semester of break of study the candidates intends to have.
16.5 The candidate permitted to rejoin the programme after the break shall be
governed by the Regulations of study in force at the time of rejoining.
16.6 If any student is detained for want of requisite attendance, progress and
good conduct, the period spent in that semester shall not be considered
as permitted ‘Break of Study’ and Clause 14.2 is not applicable for this
case.

17 DISPUTE RESOLUTION

The dispute / conflict that might arise between the stakeholders and the
Distance Education Authorities in connection with the functioning of
Distance Education Programme shall be resolved within the purview of the
Anna University rules and regulations that are in force.
18 DISCIPLINARY PROCEDURE

The disciplinary procedures and practices to be followed are the same as

that is followed for the regular degree programmes of Anna University
wherever applicable. In special cases a committee will be constituted by
Anna University to look into the intricacies of the issues and offer remedial
measures / actions to be taken.

19 REVISION OF REGULATION AND CURRICULUM

The University may from time to time revise, amend or change the
Regulations, scheme of examinations and syllabi if found necessary.

TABLE I
(As per Clause 2.3)

S.No PG Programmes *Qualifications for Admission

1. Master of Business Any Degree.
Administration (MBA)
2. Master of Computer Any degree.
Applications (MCA) The candidate should have studied Core
Mathematics either at Plus Two level or
Mathematics / Statistics / Computer Oriented
Subject as one of the subjects at the Degree
level
3. Master of Science (M.Sc) B.Sc Mathematics / Computer Science /
(2-years) Information Technology / Software Engineering
/ Electronics
(or)
B.Sc.(Physics / Statistics / Chemistry) / B.E.S.
with mathematics or Computer Science as
allied subject
(or)
B.Sc.Applied Sciences (Computer
Technology / Information Technology/
Computer Systems Maintenance and
Networking)
(or)
B.C.A.
(or)
B.E./ B.Tech. (any branch)

*All degree must have been obtained after “Plus Two” or equivalent

*****