The charm may still be with the full time classes but correspondence courses are increasingly being accepted by both students and employers.

"We had 2.1 million candidates for correspondence courses in September, 2008 and the number has increased to 2.6 million applicants this year," says Sarojit Mahalanobis, Media adviser to VC, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU).

Highly competitive eligibility criteria at top institutes coupled with the availability of part-time jobs has resulted in students opting for correspondence courses more out of choice than compulsion.

"I chose correspondence course over regular because this way I could do as many professional courses as I want to," says Himanshu Bhalla, a B.Com 2nd year student.

Institutes like IGNOU, Delhi University's School of Open Learning and Amity offer correspondence courses and usually do not make academic excellence a criteria for admission. They also have the same examination system and a syllabus similar to the regular courses.

Dr. Dinesh Gupta, Deputy Director, School of Open Learning (SOL), Delhi University says, "We offer courses that have the same syllabus, same exam system, similar evaluation techniques and we offer the same degree".

For Gaurav, a BA (Honours) student of DU, not getting into the regular courses was a set-back initially till he explored other options.

"Just because of a few marks I failed to get admission in the institute I wanted to go but later I found better courses available through distance learning," says Gaurav.

Some organisations do not differentiate between correspondence and full-time courses when they are screening candidates for jobs, accepting people based on their individual capability and skills.

... contd.