- Recently, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has released a Draft National Higher Educational Qualification Framework (NHEQF) as a part of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 to assess students at different levels.
- The NEP 2020 aims at making “India a global knowledge superpower”.
- Given the size of the higher education system and the diversity of institutions and programmes of study in India, the country needs to move towards developing a nationally accepted and internationally comparable and acceptable qualifications framework to facilitate transparency and comparability of higher education qualifications at all levels.
- The framework is not intended to promote a uniform curriculum or national common syllabus. The purpose is to bring up/elevate all HEIs (Higher Education Institutions) to a common level of benchmarking to ensure that all institutions are providing quality education.
- The draft framework has outlined several learning level “descriptors” or parameters based on which students can be assessed at every level.
- These parameters include generic learning outcomes, constitutional, ethical, and moral values, employment ready skills, entrepreneurship mindset, and application of knowledge and skills among others.
- The NHEQF has divided parameters into levels 5 to 10.
- Levels 1 to 4 cover the school education.
- The NHEQF level 5 represents learning outcomes appropriate to the first year (first two semesters) of the undergraduate programme of study, while Level 10 represents learning outcomes appropriate to the doctoral-level programme of study.
- The NHEQF envisages that students on completion of a programme of study must possess and demonstrate the expected graduate profile/attributes acquired.
- It also fixes the number of credits required to clear the different levels of the four-year undergraduate programme, postgraduate degrees and doctoral degrees.
- The NEP 2020 allows multiple entry and exits at the undergraduate level. It effectively means that students can exit after completing one year of undergraduate programme with a certificate, after two years with a diploma, after three years with a bachelor’s degree, or can complete four years and get an honours degree with a honours/research degree.
- A credit is a unit by which the coursework is measured.
University Grants Commission (UGC)
It came into existence on 28th December, 1953 but became a statutory organization of the Government of India by the UGC Act, 1956, under the Ministry of Education.
The UGC’s mandate includes:
- Promoting and coordinating university education.
- Determining and maintaining standards of teaching, examination and research in universities.
- Â Framing regulations on minimum standards of education.
- Monitoring developments in the field of collegiate and university education; disbursing grants to the universities and colleges.
- Serving as a vital link between the Union and state governments and institutions of higher learning.
- Advising the Central and State governments on the measures necessary for improvement of university.
SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,MINT