Dr BRAOU is the first open University in the country to establish an exclusive unit called GRADE to carry out research and other activities to generate ideas and promote research in the field of distance education. Thus, the University stands first among all the Open Universities/DEI in the country to undertake systemic evaluation and research in the areas of courseware; print and non-print, student support services viz., student feedback on contact-cum-counseling classes, delivery of study material and on programmes on offer. The evaluation studies carried out by the University were considered  by the  sister  universities in the country as first hand information on  focal areas of Distance Education.