UGC Chairman Stated: Digital University Will Lead To Exponential Growth Of Online Education
Recently, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has been in collaboration with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) for ensuring that students from the remotest part of the country get access to online education facilities. The information, declared by Professor Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar, Chairman, University Grants Commission (UGC) GoI, at the roundtable - ‘Enhancing Competitiveness and Quality Revolution in Indian Higher Education (IHE). The UGC chairman was the chief guest of the event. The roundtable was organized by the apex industry body, Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).
The chairman said, “We are working on a multi-dimensional way to make sure that education reaches the last student in the most remote area. So, we have signed up with MeitY as they have a large number of common service centers (CSCs). Any student can walk into those centers, pay a nominal monthly fee, and access digital universities.”
Giving insights into the various initiatives undertaken by the Government of India for expanding and enhancing higher education in the country, Professor stated, “The introduction of Common Universities Entrance Test Undergraduate (CUET UG) 2022 has been well received by the students and the stakeholders. A huge number of students, around 14.9 lakhs registered for this examination, which is only next to NEET (National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test).”
Professor added, “That's an idea that we are floating so that there is wider discussion among the stakeholders. There is no formal decision that we have taken on this. Recently we have raised the upper cap to 25 percent, earlier it was 15 percent. And in the same guidelines, we also said that as far as the admission of these students is concerned, each individual university can have its own admission policy and terms of fixing its own tuition fee. We hope that with this flexibility given to our educational institutions will be able to attract a lot of international students.”
Stating that the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) is going to be enhanced soon, the professor, “It is going to be a comprehensive document. It will become the foundation of all kinds of education with the integration of three pillars - school education, skill education, and national higher education.”
For deemed-to- be universities, Professor Kumar said, “There are around 126 deemed universities in India and we are already working on the deemed-to-be universities’ regulations. Removing the tag ‘deemed-to-be’ requires an amendment at UGC part, but it will surely happen.”
The invited segment included, Dr. Madhu Chitkara Co-Chairperson, ASSOCHAM NCE & Pro-Chancellor, Chitkara University; Kunwar Shekhar Vijendra Chairman, ASSOCHAM National Council on Education and Co-Founder and Chancellor, Shobhit University; Dr. Ashwani Lochan Co-Chairman, ASSOCHAM NCE, and Chairman, Arunachal University of Studies.
