UGC drafts new guidelines for establishing HRDCs

UGC drafts new guidelines for establishing HRDCs

Pune: To address the issues of lower employability of students and professional development of teachers, University Grants Commission (UGC) has drafted guidelines on Human Resource Development Centres (HRDC) to be established in higher educational institutions.

A low percentage of employability of students, lack of 100 per cent of graduates, failed traditional learning methodologies, are some of the problems identified by UGC. UGC has also highlighted that teachers are not provided with adequate opportunities for professional development.

“We have more than 950 universities and 42,000 colleges, with a total student enrollment of nearly 31 million. The Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) has doubled during the last 10 years and has reached the level of 25.2 per cent, as projected GER of 30 per cent for 2020 by the Government of India. However, there is a growing chorus of discontent about ‘is’ and ‘is not’ happening in the higher education enterprise,” read the draft guidelines issued by UGC. 

UGC has also stated that by 2030, it is estimated that higher education in India will adopt transformative and innovative approaches. It also aims to be among the top five countries in the world in terms of research output and have more than 20 universities among the top 200 universities on global ranking. 

Considering these facts, the commission has decided to have HRDC in higher educational institutes which will understand the significance of education in general and higher education in global and Indian contexts.
 
The purpose is to increase access to high quality education, regardless of budget or location and tailor lesson plans as per individual needs. It can be provided through free massive online open courses (MOOCs) and hybrid classes, adaptive learning software and the unbundling of traditional degree credits.

One of the prime focus of this centre will be teachers who are the knowledge passers. Understanding the fast-changing pace of the world, skills need to be broadened. Also, the number of published materials on every topic available are growing each day. Therefore, most conscientious observers, including most faculty, administrators and policymakers have to fill the gaps in understanding the problems that need more attention. UGC has emphasised that it is expected that teachers will assume the role of a change leader than a facilitator. 

The objective is also to encourage teachers to develop in-house education-technology incubators that help entrepreneurial start-ups get off the ground by providing them with research, mentorship and connections and linking them to capital and to participate in seminars, symposia, workshops, etc. 

UGC has also invited feedback to be submitted by April 5 on hrdcsection@gmail.com.  

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