UGC will initiate online NAC-Bank

UGC will initiate online NAC-Bank

Pune: To enable students to gain an education in a liberal system, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has initiated the concept of National Academic Credit Bank (NAC-Bank).

This digital/ virtual/ online entity will be established and maintained by UGC. UGC Vice-Chairman Bhushan Patwardhan said it will allow students to seek multiple entry and exit from a particular course and not bind students into the traditional learning of degree courses. 

The main objective of the NAC-Bank would be to facilitate student mobility across the education system wherein credits can be accumulated and used to alter point of time for requirements of partial fulfillment of a degree programme, stated the UGC notification.

“The current education system creates a lot of pressure on students. If a student is unable to complete graduation, we consider them as failure. We want this to change,” said Patwardhan. 

“Through NAC-Bank, the student will benefit with multiple entry and exit facility. This means that if a student has enrolled into any particular degree course for example in BA English, he/she can opt out of the course after two-and-half years, if they feel it is unsatisfactory. Or it will not be compulsory for students to complete a degree course in a given period of time. They can complete it according to their convenience,” he said.

“Another benefit will be that students can enrol in different colleges in any city or country for a course they like and gain credit which will be deposited in their academic depository. This will help them seek different courses of their choices. So far students couldn’t get any credits out of the other academic courses they pursued other than the signed up course,” said Patwardhan.

The UGC notification states that the initiative has several strong merits to open up and strengthen Indian higher education system while empowering all stakeholders to deliver more open ended and student centric education. Due to support for multiple entry and multiple exit aspects, it has the potential to increase the gross enrollment ratio (GER) beyond the broad expectation of 50 per cent in the next one decade or so. It has the potential to be a key enabler for lifelong learning.

As stated by the UGC, NAC-Bank is a medium to choose one’s own academic path to attain a degree or diploma or post-diploma. The facility will serve as an online storehouse of student’s data and their credits earned.
 
“We are planning to start with this concept phase-wise from next academic year 2020-21. It will be introduced in Central government universities and tier-1 city universities. Also those institutions will impart liberal education, as it will require liberal learning system. We have called for more suggestions on this and it isn’t compulsory for all higher educational institutes,” said Patwardhan.

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