UGC has released draught regulations that clarify how credit banks for higher education and degree design are expected to operate
In accordance with the new National Education Policy, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has produced draught regulations for creating an Academic Bank of Credit (ABC) (NEP). The credit bank, similar to a bank account, will be a repository where students’ academic credits earned through classwork and tutorials would be stored. Last Monday, the commission mailed the regulations to all schools and universities, asking for input. Simply simply, a credit bank gives students the ability to create their own degree.
They will be able to transfer from one institution to another in the middle of their studies and keep their credits. They can also drop out in the middle of their programme and re-enrol – at the same or an other institute — as soon as possible, within a set time frame. To do so, they’ll need to get their credits from the bank, where they’ll be held in the while. Institutions that want to provide this flexibility to students must register with the ABC system, assuming they are eligible, according to the guidelines, which also include some eligibility criteria such as UGC recognition.
The ABC is one of the government’s measures stated in its NEP, which was approved by the Union Cabinet last year. Work on the credit bank has already begun, according to Union Higher Education Secretary Amit Khare, and the government plans to launch it in 2021. The ABC “must provide a variety of services including credit verification, credit accumulation, credit transfer/redemption, and degree validation,” according to the regulations issued by the UGC, which regulates higher education in India. They go on to say that the credits can be held for a maximum of seven years or “as defined separately by ABC for other subject disciplines.”
All UGC-accredited higher education programmes are eligible to enrol in ABC, although professional courses such as engineering, medicine/dental, law, and others will require clearance from a “applicable statutory/regulatory professional council.” This means that an engineering institute, for example, can only enrol in ABC if the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) accepts it. According to the regulations, the ABC’s goals are to “allow students to select the best courses/combinations of courses to suit their aptitude and thirst for knowledge,” as well as to “allow students to tailor their degrees or make specific modifications/specializations rather than undergoing the rigid, regularly prescribed degree/courses of a single university/autonomous college.”
It will also allow for numerous course entry/exit choices. In the midst of debates to bring back its four-year undergraduate degree, Delhi University is one of the institutions planning to provide this starting in the next academic session. The regulations state that “ABC shall act as the empowered body by the UGC/MoE (Ministry of Education) to provide authenticated records of credits earned by students from approved HEIs (higher education institutions).”“In spirit and aim, the ABC is a terrific idea,” he added. “It should allow for access, flexibility, choice, and an inherent competitiveness among academic institutions to go above and beyond in terms of student learning.”
