The University Grants Commission (UGC) has made it mandatory for institutions offering programmes under online and open and distance learning (ODL) modes to register students for the Academic Bank of Credit (ABC).
The ABC, as envisioned in the new National Education Policy (NEP), is a national facility to support flexible curriculum frameworks and student academic mobility among higher education institutions (HEIs) in the nation with an appropriate “credit transfer” mechanism.
According to UGC officials, the higher education regulator will send a letter this week to 58 higher educational institutions that offer online programmes and 86 HEIs that run their programmes remotely, requesting that they adhere to the ABC rules in order to support curriculum flexibility and student academic mobility across interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary fields.
The HEIs now have to create ABC IDs for their students and deposit their credits. Among the top universities which have made the ABC portal (abc.gov.in) compulsory this year are Delhi University, University of Mumbai, Jamia Millia Islamia, Jawaharlal Nehru University, National Institute of Technology â Arunachal Pradesh, Tezpur University, Central University of Punjab, University of Hyderabad, Indira Gandhi National Open University, Vellore Institute of Technology, O P Jindal Global University, Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences, Guru Nanak Dev University, Mizoram University, Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya and the English and Foreign Languages University.
“We will write to all the HEIs offering online and ODL programmes for the mandatory compliance of the Academic Bank of Credit. The ABC provides each student with the facility to open a unique and individual academic bank account in digital form. Each account holder is provided with a unique ID, ” said UGC Chairperson M Jagadesh Kumar.
“The major functions of the ABC are registration of the HEIs under the ABC scheme and the opening, closure, and validation of the academic accounts of students, credit verification, credit accumulation, credit transfer and redemption of students; and also, the promotion of the ABC among the stakeholders,” Kumar added.
The UGC chief also said the learning management systems (LMS) of all universities offering online programmes may be integrated similarly with the ABC portal.
The UGC, along with the letter, will also send the help manual for creating ABC IDs for students through the DigiLocker portal to the HEIs.
(Source: The Times of India)