There are many meanings of the word ‘correspondence'. One of the most common meanings is synonymous with written communication. As a result, correspondence courses are the ones that are taken through written communication, rather than oral communication, which is the most preferred way of teaching all over the globe. But the scenario is changing with the advent of correspondence courses, which have taken over the prominence of regular courses
Correspondence courses are gaining good ground in fields like management, special exams, and army courses and so on. Most of the people who are working part time do prefer these courses as they hardly have any spare time. The standard courses offered by most colleges are time consuming, with breaks and interruptions between two lectures and too many students are stuffed into a single class. This may be a disadvantage as the professor can not pay individual and personalized attention to each and every student. In addition to this, a bulk of the work load remains on the student himself, as it is the student who has to study and work hard at the end of the day. In the normal courses, you are pressed for time to complete a day's work and when you miss out on a single lecture, the catching up takes a lot of time. When you go in for a correspondence course, you just register with the organization offering these services by giving them your details like address, mark sheets, transcripts, degree certificates, date of birth, etc. They charge a lesser amount of money compared to standard courses and you begin to receive written or printed materials at regular time intervals.
Getting into a correspondence course is much easier compared to regular courses, where there are more takers. Thus the lesser number of applicants almost guarantee you an admit to these courses. At the end of the course, you are expected to appear for your exams along with the students from the regular batches. Thus the basic difference remains only in the manner in which the courses are taught. You have the option of completing the course from the comfort of your home, which is why these courses are preferred by people not wanting to relocate. They are the people who do not want to shift due to personal or family reasons.
The young generation anyways does not care about attending lectures any more and hence, the option of correspondence courses is one of the finest options available. The only drawback of the courses is that not many colleges or institutions offer them and a few have only recently begun offering them. So not many people are lured towards joining the courses. With hordes of new institutions coming up and people realizing the importance of these courses, they will surely get their due.