The distance and online mode of education is being perceived as the future system of education worldwide. The ongoing trends, particularly those triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, hint at a paradigm shift in the pattern of education from a conventional class room or face-to-face teaching and learning system to a distance and online mode. In line with these trends, the Govt. of India is also taking up measures to prefer the distance and online mode of education that is clearly reflected in the directives from the Ministry of Home Affairs dated September 30, 2020, which states that, "Online/distance learning shall continue to be the preferred mode of teaching and shall be encouraged". Under these changing circumstances, the institutions offering distance and online academic programmes need to gear up for greater responsibilities.
The Centre for Distance and Online Education (CDOE), Tezpur University, that has significantly reinvigorated itself in the recent years, is making all out efforts to meet the new requirements. Accordingly, the Centre is in the midst of creating new infrastructure and appropriate human resources required for facilitating a world class education in the distance and online mode. In this journey, the Centre requires support and guidance from all stakeholders including its parent organization Tezpur University, students, faculty members, administrative and technical staff, parents/guardians and the general public at large. I hope, with the cooperation from all such angles, we will be able to reach our goal of building the CDOE-TU as a centre of world class distance and online education in the real sense of the term.

Dr. Akhilesh Kumar
Director