• MOHD HASHIM ALI SAJID
• DR. MANU SINGH
• M.A. SIKANDAR

The National Education Policy (NEP) of India of 2020 has made Open and Distance Learning (ODL) an important tool to widen access to higher education. The expansion of access has not led to a complete end of the persistence of inequity in quality and the achievement of learners, which points to an urgent gap in governance. The current research fulfills this gap by introducing and empirically supporting a new Governance Inclusiveness Model which is based on the Neo Institutional Theory and Service Dominant logic and the conceptualization of governance and human resource management (HRM) as dynamic service providers and not administrative tasks. The authors selected a quantitative cross-sectional design to collect the data on 560 learners in four Indian universities. The results prove that the impact of the Culture of Institutional Inclusivity and Women and Underprivileged Groups Accessibility is a significant shore to reinforce ODL governing mechanisms. Governance and Strategic HRM Practices turned into the strongest predictors of outcomes in learners, and the impact of staff competence, compassionate administrative backing, and responsive service delivery became essential in promoting academic achievement among the marginalised learners. Conversely, no noteworthy impact was realised by the Centre Management Mechanisms on the achievement of the learners, which may indicate that the concept of decentralised structures has no relation with the real performance of the services. This work disrupts the traditional administrative paradigms of the back-office by reinventing governance as a service-based equity-oriented ecosystem and provides a conceptual framework of inclusive ODL reform. These results offer practical implications to policy makers and institutional administrations concerned with how to realise the equity imperative of NEP 2020 and promote the massification of quality distance higher education.

Open and Distance Learning (ODL); Higher Education Governance; Strategic HRM; Social Equity; Women in Education; NEP 2020; Institutional Inclusivity; Student Support Services; India.

"Governance and HRM Practices of the Distance Education System in India: A Study of Selected Universities with Special Reference to Equity and Accessibility of Women and Underprivileged Learners", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.13, Issue 1, page no.c562-c577, January-2026, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2601268.pdf

"Governance and HRM Practices of the Distance Education System in India: A Study of Selected Universities with Special Reference to Equity and Accessibility of Women and Underprivileged Learners", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.13, Issue 1, page no. ppc562-c577, January-2026, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2601268.pdf