Tag: higher-education

What is Academic Bank of Credits (ABC) in Higher Education Institutions?

By Shashikant Nishant Sharma

The University Grants Commission (UGC), one of the statutory organizations, is a key player in maintaining the quality of education across Indian institutions.

Right from evaluating teaching-learning practices to bringing innovations in the field of education, UGC introduces various schemes from time to time for quality assurance.

Continuing the chain of building transformative educational setup, UGC has introduced the “Academic Bank of Credits” (ABC). It helps faculty to manage & check the credits earned by students.

Before we get into details, let us understand the main objectives of ABC…

  • To promote student-centric education
  • Focus on learner-friendly teaching approaches
  • Implement an inter-disciplinary approach
  • Allow students to learn the best courses of their interest
  • Enable students to learn at their own pace

Keeping these objectives in mind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced the National Education Policy (NEP 2020) and the Academic Bank of Credits is a vital part of the policy.

What is the Academic Bank of Credits (ABC)?

Academic Bank of Credits (ABC) is a virtual/digital storehouse that contains the information of the credits earned by individual students throughout their learning journey. It will enable students to open their accounts and give multiple options for entering and leaving colleges or universities. There will be “multiple exits” & “multiple entries” points during the higher education tenure & credits will be transferred through the ABC seamlessly.

ABC can be considered as an authentic reference to check the credit record of any student at any given point in time. Thus, the concept of ABC is fuel to boost the efficiency of faculty and help students embrace a multi-disciplinary educational approach. The idea is to make students “skillful professionals” and help their overall growth.

In a crux, the Academic Bank of Credits will be a game-changer in transforming Indian education to a great extent.

Functions of Academic Bank of Credit (ABC)

  • The Academic Bank will be accountable for opening, closing, and validating the academic accounts of students.
  • It will carry out tasks such as credit accumulation, credit verification, credit transfer/redemption of students.
  • The courses include online and distance mode courses offered by the government and institutes.
  • The validity of these academic credits earned by students will be up to seven years and students can redeem these credits.
  • The credits can be redeemed and students can seek admission directly in the second year at any university.
  • The validity will be up to seven years, hence, students will have to rejoin within seven years.

Importance of Academic Bank of Credit (ABC)

  • Increases the student’s freedom in choosing their courses and academics.
  • Enables the student to drop out in any year and then exchange the credits earned so far with a certificate/diploma if they are eligible.
  • They can redeem the credits and rejoin the same or any other institute in the future and continue their education.
  • The institutes cannot keep the students in the courses against their will to earn money

How does the Academic Bank of Credits Work?

As I mentioned to you earlier, the Academic Bank of Credits (ABC) would act as a reference point for faculty to check the credit records of students. The students need to follow the given guidelines to be a part of the ABC.

Academic-Bank-Of-Credits-Work

#1: Opening The ABC Account

First and foremost, the students need to open an Academic Bank Account.

They might require details like their name, address, certificates, course details, etc to create the ABC account.

A unique ID & password will be created from where students can log in at any given point to check their earned credits.

: Credits Information As Per Courses

As per the courses, a credit structure will be created by the Government.

When a student pursues any course and clears exams, credits will be automatically awarded to them. Institutions need to fill out the details and upload the deposits in the students’ Academic Credit Bank’s account on the digital portal.

#3: Evaluation & Verification Of Credits

Any kind of credit evaluation & verification will be carried out by the Academic Credit Bank at regular intervals.

If students want to transfer the credits, they need to approach the ABC for further process.

It will help in regulating the processes with ultimate authenticity.

: Types Of Courses

Online & offline – both types of courses are included in the scheme. Some of the important ones include National Schemes such as–

  • NPTEL
  • SWAYAM
  • V-LAB

Thus, the ABC will cover almost all types of courses including distance learning courses to help students of every possible stream.

#5: Credit’s Validity

The credits earned by students will be valid for seven years.

However, the validity of credits is subject to change depending on the type of courses or disciplines.

In such instances, ABC will provide the details of the exceptions to students.

Even if a student takes a break or is not able to continue their education, they may redeem the earned credits in the future within the time limit of seven years.

Expected Impact of ABC on Educational System

The UGC expects a positive impact that will be brought via the practice of the ABC in the upcoming years. HEIs who participate in the scheme will be highly benefited due to the smooth management of credits.

The inter-disciplinary & multi-disciplinary approach is the need of the hour. With the Academic Credit Bank, HEIs will be able to help students learn subjects of their choice and become “skill-oriented” graduates.

For further details, you may visit the ABC’s official website.

References

Gawas, N. M., Naik, G. R., & Kapdi, G. Academic Bank of Credits (ABC): A Big Fish in a Big Pond. Anand Bihari, 152.

Mandale, K., & Killedar, S. (2023). Benefits of the Academic Bank of Credits ABC According to New Education Policy NEP 2020. PRARUP PUBLICATION A/p. Hatkanangale, Tal. Hatkanangale Dist. Kolhapur-416 004 (Maharashtra), 23-28.

Naveen, H. M. (2021). Establishment and Operation of Academic Bank of Credits (ABC) in Higher Education. International Journal of Engineering Applied Science and Technology, 6(5), 166-169.

Sharma, S. N., & Dehalwar, K. (2023). Council of Planning for Promoting Planning Education and Planning Professionals. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 43(4), 748-749.

Vashistha, N., Dhiman, A., Grima, S., & Kiran, S. (2022). National academic credit bank: Need of times. In Edutech enabled teaching (pp. 201-216). Chapman and Hall/CRC.

Achievements of New Education Policy

By Shashikant Nishant Sharma

Central Government, State and UT Government have taken several initiatives for implementation of National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) details of which are as under:-

In School Education, a number of initiatives have been taken such as PM SHRI (PM Schools for Rising India) for upgradation of schools (A total of 6448 schools were selected and Rs. 630.11 crore has been released to 6207 PM SHRI schools in 27 States/UTs along with KVS/NVS as first installment); National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN Bharat);Vidya-Pravesh–School Preparation Module; PM e-VIDYA for digital/online/on-air education; DIKSHA (Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing) as One Nation One Digital Platform; National Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage (NCF FS); Jadui Pitara for children between the age group of 3 to 8 years; National Curriculum Framework for School Education; NISHTHA (National Initiative for School Heads’ and Teachers’ Holistic Advancement) 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 an Integrated Teacher Training Programme for different stages of school education; National Digital Education Architecture (NDEAR) for creating a unifying national digital infrastructure with 1500+ Micro courses, 5 billion+ Learning sessions, 12 billion+ QR codes, 20K+ ecosystem participants, 15K+ Micro improvements ongoing across various linked building blocks; “New India Literacy Programme or ULLAS” targeting all non-literates age 15 years and above, etc.

Samagra Shiksha Scheme has been fully aligned with the recommendation of NEP 2020, with a total financial outlay of Rs. 2,94,283.04 crore which includes a Central share of Rs. 1,85,398.32 crore. PM Poshan Shakti Nirman Yojna has also been aligned with the recommendation of NEP 2020.

National Assessment Centre, PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development) has been set up to fulfil the objectives of setting norms, standards, guidelines and implement activities related to student assessment.

New policy on weight of School bags with focus on reducing the weight of school bags has been circulated to States/UTs.

4-year Integrated Teacher Education Program has been introduced. Recognition has been granted to 42 institutions including IITs, NITs, RIEs, IGNOU and Government Colleges for the Academic Session 2023-24.

National Mission for Mentoring (NMM) has also been introduced to create a large pool of outstanding professionals who are willing to provide mentoring to school teachers. NMM is being piloted in 30 Central schools. Also, a school volunteer management program namely Vidyanjali has been started to strengthen Government and Government aided schools through community and private sector involvement across the country. So far 671512 Govt. and Govt aided schools have onboarded and 443539 volunteers have registered on the Vidyanjali Portal.

In Higher Education, various initiatives / reforms have been carried out for implementation of NEP 2020. For learner centric education, National Credit Framework (NCrF), National Higher Education Qualification Framework, Academic Bank of Credit (ABC), multiple entry/exit etc. have been introduced. So far 1667 Universities/INIs/HEIs are on boarded on ABC portal & 2.75 Crore students are registered. To ensure access to high quality education with equity and inclusion, courses are being offered in Indian Languages; entrance exams such as JEE, NEET, CUET are conducted in 13 Indian languages; 100 books for UG students on various subjects launched in 12 Indian Languages; and 20 Technical books of first year have been translated in Indian Languages.

To promote digital learning by leveraging technology, at present 95 Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) are offering 1149 ODL programmes and 66 HEIs are offering 371 online programmes. More than 19 lakh students are availing these facilities. To promote multi-disciplinary education and provide flexibility, around 295 Universities have adopted SWAYAM regulation permitting learners to avail upto 40% credit Courses from SWAYAM platform. Over 9 lakhs students earn SWAYAM certificate through a proctored exam every year. These certificates can be utilised for credit transfer by the university in which student is enrolled. Technology enabled Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) based Solutions for Governance of HEIs starting from admission to grant of Degree – Smarter Automation Engine for Universities (SAMARTH) is being extensively used by around 2700 Universities & HEIs covering 32 States / UTs. 7 State Higher Education Departments are also on boarded.

In order to enable HEIs to work with industry experts in developing courses and curriculum to meet the industry and societal needs, initiatives have been taken such as Guidelines on Professor of Practice; MoUs with Cisco/IBM/Meta/Adobe/Microsoft/Sales force etc. to create industry-aligned courses; offering Apprenticeship / Internship embedded Degree Programme by HEIs; Single Unified online portal for internship with total registration of around 10560 HEIs and 73383 industries so far. For promotion of research and innovation, around 7568 Institutions’ Innovation Councils and around 104 Idea Development, Evaluation and Application Labs (IDEA) have been set up.

To promote internationalization, regulation on setting up and operation of campuses of foreign Higher Education Institutions in India have been issued. Also, MOUs have been signed for setting up of campus of IIT Madras in Zanzibar- Tanzania and IIT Delhi in Abu Dhabi. Classes have commenced at IIT Madras campus in Zanzibar-Tanzania.

Guidelines for Training/Orientation of Faculty on Indian Knowledge System (IKS), Empanelment of Artists/Artisans–in–Residence in Higher Educational Institutions, Introduction of courses based on Indian heritage and culture, Incorporating Indian Knowledge in Higher Education Curricula and Translation of books into Indian languages have been issued. More than 8000 HEIs have started adopting IKS into their curriculum.

National Credit Framework jointly developed by University Grants Commission (UGC), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), National Council for Vocational Education & Training (NCVET), National Institute of Open Schooling( NIOS), Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), National Council of Education, Research & Training (NCERT), Directorate General of Training (DGT), Ministry of Education (MoE) and Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) is a comprehensive credit framework encompassing elementary, school, higher and vocational education and training incorporating creditization of various dimensions of learning i.e. academics, vocational skills and Experiential learning including relevant experience and proficiency/professional levels acquired. It encompasses qualifications frameworks as prescribed in National Higher Education Qualifications Framework (NHEQF), National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF) and National Curriculum Framework (NCF), thereby providing broad-based multi-disciplinary / inter-disciplinary, holistic education with flexible curricula, creative combination of subjects, multiple pathways, establishing equivalence, facilitate national and international mobility.