Distance B.Com Education Courses – Correspondence B.Com (Commerce) – Bachelor of Commerce aka BCom is an undergraduate course which compulsorily deals with subjects like Economics, Management, Finance, Accounting, Marketing, Banking and other such related fields.
It is a widely known fact that B.Com is one of the most common undergraduate courses. So what if you do not have time to attend regular classes as part of your regular B.Com course? You can earn a B.Com degree by linking together various commitments through effective correspondence/distance learning programmes.
There are various distance education institutes and open universities that offer a comprehensive B.Com course that comes with a wide range of specializations.
You must be wondering what is the difference between regular and distance B.Com courses? Well, the good news is that there isn’t much. The course structure, subjects and eligibility criteria are quite similar. The only different thing is the duration, exam process and degree certificate.
Duration of Distance B.Com Program
A Basic Distance B.Com program is of 3 years duration and 4 years program is also offered by some institutes. The 4-year program consists of an additional year for specialization purposes and upon its completion; a Bachelor of Commerce Honors (B.Com Hons.) degree is awarded to a student.
Although most of the institutes offer 3-year courses, which include several specializations. However, a student is given a maximum time of 6 years to complete the program from the year of enrollment. It is to be noted that not all institutes offer extended duration and you should check with the institute for confirmation regarding the same.
Eligibility Criteria and Admission Process
A candidate must have completed his/her 10+2 examinations with a minimum of 50% marks. The minimum cut-off percentage for reserved categories (ST/SC/OBC) is 40%. The cut-off percentage varies depending on the institute; however, it rarely exceeds 50% as it is mostly between 35-50%.
For the admission process, the first and foremost step is to choose the right institute. One should spend a good amount of time researching different institutes and it should suit your needs. To name a few, they include – budget, location of the exam centre, facilities, scope of degree and placement opportunities.
Most of the institutes accept the students based on merit (12th class score) and it is advised that you get good marks. Some of the most reputed institutes conduct their own entrance test along with the interview round as part of their admission process. However, most of them will happily accept your 12th class marks and they only need a passing certificate.
Stream for B.Com Distance Education
There are many streams/specializations in B.Com Distance Education that a student can pursue. The duration of all streams is 3 years unless it is an Honors programme. Given below are the most popular streams:
- Accounting and Finance
- Marketing Management
- Secretarial exercise
- Computer applications
- Corporate Affairs and Management
- Financial and cost accounting
- Foreign trade
- Business Studies
- Finance and investment
- International trade
- Managerial economics
- Supply chain management
- Export and Import Management
- Bank management
- To tax
- corporate secretary post
- It should be noted that not every university and institute offers the above streams and the offerings vary depending on the institution.
Subjects and Curriculum
As the name of the course suggests, B.Com focuses on commerce and is a very business-centric course. It provides students with a solid foundation in various fields such as business management, finance, accounting and computer applications.
The program usually consists of 1 or more compulsory subjects (mostly languages) and 4 or more electives which vary from institution to institution. While the subjects vary according to specialization, there is a set of core subjects that are offered by all the institutes. This includes:
- Business Economics
- Language: Hindi
- Business Organization and Management
- Business Statistics
- Fundamentals of Financial Management
- Principles of accounting
- Banking Theory and Practice
- Business Law
- Advanced accounting
- Income tax/taxation
- Audit trail
- E-business
- Management and Cost Accounting
- Science and technology
- Business climate
In addition, some institutes also offer the basic foundation or elective courses in computer science, sociology, humanities, environmental studies, teaching, etc.
Now that you have an overview of what a distance B.Com program looks like, the next step is to familiarize yourself with the entire process of distance learning and how it will relate to B.Com. Don’t even break a sweat, it’s quite efficient. Let me walk you through this.
Course Material and Online Learning for Distance Bachelor of Commerce Program
The biggest advantage of pursuing a distance learning program is that everything you need will be delivered to your doorstep. You can find everything you need, and I mean literally everything, without even taking more than ten steps!
Most of the open universities and institutes send course material through a post which includes notes and other study material. All you have to do is pay the required fee for the content and provide your address and you will get it delivered to you.
However, some institutes will have different ways of handing over the required study material. One way would be to collect it from the centre given by the university. Another way would be to buy it yourself from the list provided by the university. It is always good to check with the institute or university regarding the approach. You can also clear your doubts through the link given by the institute on their website.
Exam for Distance Bachelor of Commerce Program
All you have to do is to meet the minimum requirement which is to meet a certain deadline before being eligible to take the B.Com Distance Education Program exam. The schedule of the exam varies depending on the university or institute.
Scope and Job Opportunities
This is why doing a B.Com in Distance Education gives you an edge over the regular course. The ‘flexibility of time’ replaces all the other benefits that come with this method of education. Along with the regular degree courses, you get a chance to pursue even the most demanding professional courses like CA (Chartered Accountancy), CS (Company Secretary), CWA (Cost and Work Accounting). According to a survey, about 9.5 lakh students graduate in the B.Com stream alone in India every year. A career-boosting, graduate with a professional certificate like CA stands out from this huge crowd.
Regular B.Com courses and distance learning programs are alike when it comes to career or higher education opportunities. With skill sets in areas such as finance and management, which form the backbone of all types of business, B.Com graduates are the most sought-after potential employees by the world’s top banks and multinational corporate companies.
M.Com and MBA/Distance MBA are the most common PG courses after B.Com. Although both the courses are related to commerce, M.Com mainly focuses on financial subjects whereas management is the central concept of most MBA subjects. While B.Com graduates earn around 3 to 7 lakhs per year, professionals like CA, CS and MBA/M. Com graduates earn almost double that, maybe even more.
Here is the list of top 10 job roles for B.Com graduates
- Financial Management and Analysis
- accounting
- audit trail
- tax advisory services
- bill broker
- commercial tribunal
- international banking
- insurance services
- Telecom Services and BPO
- DV.government service
Benefits of B.Com graduates
- You have the option of doing a job while continuing your studies.
- Distance B.Com degree is much cheaper as compared to regular B.Com. It suits your pocket.
- You can prepare for other exams like CA, CWA, CSS and you can have B.Com degree
- You can do two courses at a time. One distance and one regular.
- It is less expensive and can be enrolled by as many students as they want.
- Distance B.Com is convenient as it suits your timing and availability.
