By Ganesh Bhatt
New Delhi, Jan 1 (IANS): In this new year, students across the country have a gift in the field of higher education – a digital university. The Ministry of Education is working closely with all stakeholders to create a digital university and believes that students will benefit from it by 2023.
What is special about this initiative is that this university will be connected to all other colleges and universities in the country as they will be subsidiaries of this digital university.
According to the ministry, online medium is already recognized upon admission for all other related procedures in this digital university. Students are also admitted to this digital university via the online mode.
The students of this digital university will be evaluated by online exams, and teaching will also be online. Students can study online through the Union Ministry of Education portal “Swayam”.
According to University Grants Commission Chairman M. Jagadesh Kumar, the National Digital University is likely to be built on the “hub and spoke” model. Under this initiative, all students who pass the 12th grade are given access to higher education.
Kumar said that the number of admissions and places for students in this digital university will not be limited. All students can benefit from it. Students from all parts of the country can enroll in the courses of their choice.
The ministry has called for strong industry-led education policies and to work with a collective approach to improve the employability of young people.
According to the ministry, the establishment of multiple entry and exit routes along with the Academic Bank of Credit (ABC) will also be available to the students in the new digital university.
These offers are made available on the basis of the new education policy.
The Academic Bank of Credit (ABC) allows each student to open a unique personal academic bank account in digital form. Each account holder (student) receives a unique ID. The main functions of ABC are higher education institution registration and student academic account opening, verification, credit assessment, credit accumulation, credit transfer and promotion of ABC to stakeholders.
The Academic Bank of Credit keeps records of academic records of students studying at various higher education institutions. Colleges and universities have to register themselves for this. The student’s account is then opened at the Studienbank.
Once the account is opened, all students will be provided with a unique ID. Educational institutions will award credits to students’ academic accounts based on their courses. This is how the data of students studying at colleges or other higher educational institutions is stored.
If a student drops out of his/her studies mid-study for any reason, he/she will be awarded a certificate, diploma or degree according to his/her performance (period). The student receives a certificate of passing the first year, a diploma of passing the second year and a degree upon completion of the course.
According to ABC’s official website, a total of 854 universities and other educational institutions are registered on its portal, and 48,000 student IDs have been issued so far.
