Nagpur: Come January 2025 and the University Grants Commission (UGC) will roll out new online skill-based courses on the SWAYAM Plus portal. It is set to revolutionise skill-based education in the country, stated Professor M Jagadesh Kumar, Chairman, UGC.
Prof Kumar was addressing the press at the UGC Conference on the theme ‘Implementation of National Education Policy 2020’ organised by IIM, Nagpur on Wednesday. Dr Bhimaraya Metri, Director, IIM Nagpur, also was present. “We need to provide new skills to students because technologies are changing at a rapid pace. Therefore, there has to be harmony between existing professions and emerging new skills,” Prof Kumar added.
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UGC is focusing on ways to provide newer skills to youth. Students come to the education institutes to acquire skills but a large number of institutes lack flexibility to provide this kind of education. To overcome this gap the UGC is coming out with many reforms and framework to provide flexibility to the educational institutions. Prof Kumar highlighted that Maharashtra was leading with the highest number of autonomous colleges in the country. There are 223 autonomous colleges in the Western Zone consisting of Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, Daman and Diu.
Similarly, Maharashtra is a leading State where universities are opting for 4-year degree courses rather than 3-year degree courses in the country. All universities have established Innovation Cells to focus on new ideas, he said. One of the biggest reforms introduced by UGC was the National Credit Framework (NCF). The objective of the NCF is to provide freedom, flexibility and choices to students in choosing the courses they want to study. Out of 4.3 crore students in higher education in the country, a large chunk is pursuing BA/BSc and BCom.
“These students need to be provided with appropriate skills to enhance their employability. There are so many areas where we can educate our students so that they become self-employed or use these skills to become employable,” Prof Kumar said. The UGC is talking to several organisations and designing courses for the students across the country. Students, irrespective of the degree they are pursuing, can choose their courses with no entrance test, no criteria of marks to get admission.
Anybody who is interested may take these courses. “We will see the impact of these courses in the coming few years. We will have lakhs of students with appropriate skills,” he pointed out. “Students doing UGC online course can accumulate certain number of credits and acquire certificate course, diploma course or undergraduate programmes. Technology will play an important role,” Prof Kumar pointed out.
UGC is bringing about awareness in leaders of educational institutions to adopt flexibility and autonomy and introduce new courses. As a large number of students come from economically weaker backgrounds and rural areas they are not familiar with English language, therefore, UGC will be providing courses in their mother tongues.
“The organisation that takes these courses will be recognised as an assessor by the UGC. This organisation with the university will conduct test in the university along with the semester examination,” Prof Kumar said. “Already, there are 90 universities in the country offering on-line degrees. Now it would be possible for students to do multiple degrees. We are bringing a lot of flexibility to students. Skill-based courses do not require lab or workshop and can be done in-line mode,” he added.
One of the aims of the New Education Policy (NEP) 2020 is to make education affordable but generate resources from internal sources by collaborating with industry by conducting specialised courses and events and not burden the students with high tuition fees, Prof Kumar further said.
