States and UTs are bracing up for implementation of NEP within given parameters for the ensuing academic session.
Various institutions are clearing decks for implementation of NEP and are organising workshops, seminars and counselling sessions so that targets and goals are achieved.
Govt has made its maiden amendment regulations, 2021 wherein it was included that hitherto all the universities and colleges can now register their institutions under ABC frame work irrespective of ranking or accreditations.
National Academic Depository (NAD) is the pivotal body for governing ABC. It will store the academic awards, final outcomes of credit redemption and issuance of certificates as well as compilation of award records administered by academic institutions via the NAD platform.
It is mandatory for academic institutions to register under ABC via NAD.
Academic Bank of credit system is an academic service mechanism as well as a digital or virtual or on-line entity established by UGC with the approval of central Govt, to facilitate students to become its academic account holders, thereby paving way for seamless integration of skills and experiences into a credit based system.
The UGC has pressed the Higher institutions to make students aware of the ABC facility and its relevance for academic pursuits so that all the students who want to pursue higher education need to open ABC account.
The ABC will enable the institutions to maintain a digital repository for credits earned by students.
ABC will allow students multiple entries and exits to and from institutions. It implies that students can have one year of education or Degree in one institution and can move to another institution to pursue the second year of the same course, degree in another institution.
This will allow students to study online courses and earn credits. The student will have to manually open an account with the Academic Bank of Credit of India and shall abide by the standard operating procedures as communicated by ABC system along with unique ID. that identifies a student’s account with ABC.
The credits earned by students will carry a validity of 7 years specified for a particular course and upon the end of the prescribed validity period these credits may expire.
The ABC authority will be entrusted with responsibilities such as opening, closing and verifying the individual academic credits earned by education institutions.
These institutions will store, transfer and, redeem such credits. These credits will be promoted as and when required among its stakeholders.
Now UGC has developed a draft National Higher Education Qualifications Framework (NHEQF). This NHEQF should be in sync with the National Skills Qualifications Framework so as to facilitate the integration of vocational education into Higher Education and prescribe the facilitative norms regarding various related issues like credit transfer and equivalence etc.
The Higher Education qualifications leading to a Degree, Diploma and Certificates shall also be described by NHEQF in terms of set learning outcomes; recently UGC has put out draft NHEQF in public domain for suggestions and feedback.
This proposed NHEQF draft is an instrument for the development, classification and recognition of qualifications along the set continuum of 10 levels. The first to fourth level is meant for school education and 5 to 10 levels are for higher education.
The Draft has fixed the number of credits required at various levels on a given continuum. On the basis of semesters and years for those who are looking for exit at various levels at undergraduate level or so on.
The undergraduate programme with only certificate will need 40 credits, the Diploma after two years will require 80 credits, three year 6 semesters degree need 120 credits and 4 year degree with 8 semesters, honours or research work need 160 credits Master Degree programs with only one year based on two semester, or after obtaining bachelors 40 credits. Now JK Higher Education has initiated exercise to start Honors Degrees, vocational courses in colleges in sync with NEP.
All the student should get counselling and colleges need to update and upgrade digital awareness, and should connect with various digital platforms like SWAYAM, NPTEL, V-Lab and Digital lockers. All the colleges need to get various job oriented courses to give the students ample choice.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author.
The facts, analysis, assumptions and perspective appearing in the article do not reflect the views of GK.