Section 14 in University Grants Commission (Open and Distance Learning) Regulations, 2017
14. Learner Support Centre.
(1)A Higher Educational Institution offering programme in Open and Distance mode shall, within one year from the date of commencement of these regulations, ensure that a Learner Support Centre is established only in a college or institution affiliated to a University or in a government recognised Higher Educational Institution offering programmes in the same broad areas having the necessary infrastructure and human resources for offering the programme:Provided that a Higher Educational Institution may establish a special Learner Support Centre for imparting instruction to persons referred to in the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995, the National Trust for Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disability Act, 1999 and other persons in difficult circumstances, including jail inmates:Provided further that a Learner Support Centre shall not be set up under a franchisee agreement in any case.(2)A Learner Support Centre shall be the contact point or centre managed by the Higher Educational Institution for providing academic as well as administrative support to its learners, and shall perform such other functions as specified in Annexure X.(3)The Learner Support Centre shall be headed by a Coordinator who shall be a regular teacher not below the rank of a qualified Assistant Professor of the concerned College or Higher Educational Institution and assisted by the counsellors as decided by the Higher Educational Institution.(4)The Higher Educational Institution shall have a Standard Operating Procedure for the smooth functioning of the Learner Support Centre which shall include functions of the Learner Support Centres and its different functionaries, monitoring mechanism of different services provided by the Centre, and it shall be mandatory for the Learner Support Centre to maintain the learner data related to conduct of counselling sessions, evaluation of assignments and grievance redressal.
