New rules to help with recognition for online courses
The Aadhaar or unique identity number will be made part
of the Online Education Policy for authentication of Students and to link them to
the upcoming National Academic Depository
Digital
India initiative in mind, the human resources development ministry is aiming to
give online education a big push, in an attempt to widen the reach of higher
education.
Indian
Institutes of Technology (IITs), Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and
leading universities — both private and public — came together on July 9 in an
initiative taken by the human resources development ministry to chart an online
education policy for the University Grants Commission (UGC) and deliberate how
best to integrate it with the mainstream.
An
online degree finds no recognition by regulators in India though several
countries including the US have adopted them in a big way in the higher
education space.
“When
the country is adopting digital in most sectors, keeping education away is not
the right approach. Pure online courses — adopted and aided by Indian
institutes — will push quality higher education to the masses,” said a human
resource development ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The
official said the promotion of massive open online courses (MOOCs) was the
first step and it was time to take the initiative forward.
In
the past year-and-a-half, the government has asked top Indian institutions to
develop MOOCs on various subjects for supplementary knowledge for all the
students.
These
are in the nature of short-term, subject-specific capsule courses, available
online to all.
“The
UGC is already working on a plan and top educational institutions will be in a
better position to tell us about the market demand, the drawbacks if any, and
the way forward,” a second government official, who will be attending the
meeting, said.
The
second official, also on condition of anonymity, said Aadhaar or the unique
identity number will be made part of the online education policy for
authentication of students and linking them to the upcoming national academic
depository. Institutions will be asked to present their innovations and best
practices in the digital education space in sync with the ‘Digital India’ push
of the Union government.
The
new online education rules will enable institutions to offer courses for both
regular students as well as working professionals.
While
online courses for regular students will allow the higher education space to
grow, and cater to more students, the offerings for professionals will help
re-skill them and be a good source of revenue for institutions as they can
charge market rates.
Indian
has 799 universities, 39,071 colleges and 11,923 standalone institutions
catering to around 30 million students. Despite the size of the sector, the
gross enrolment in higher education is just 24%, way below leading economies.
With
limited government spending on education, online education could spur the
sector.
The
second government official cited above said that the outcome of the meeting
will aid in formulating online education rules, which may also find a place in
the broader education policy being formulated by the K. Kasturirangan
Committee.
“The
meeting will familiarise the leaders of higher education with all digital
initiatives of the government and help evolve action plans for effective
adoption and utilization of these digital initiatives in higher educational
institutions,” said the second government official.
Source | Hindustan Times | 12
July 2017
Regards
Pralhad
Jadhav
Senior Manager @
Knowledge Repository
Khaitan
& Co
Upcoming Lecture | ACTREC - BOSLA Annual lecture series (125th birth anniversary of father of library
science, Padmashree Dr. S. R. Ranganathan) on Saturday, 12th August 2017 at Advanced Centre for Treatment,
Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC), Kharghar, Navi Mumbai. (Theme | 'MakerSpace')
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