With a focus to implement the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 in the state, Odisha Higher Education Department will be allowing undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) students to earn credits from nearly 800 courses available on the Ministry of Education's SWAYAM portal and Open Distance Learning (ODL) in the new academic session.
Under the new system, students can earn 24 credits at the UG level while PG students can collect 12 credits pursuing courses from both SWAYAM and ODL in any subject, a report by The New Indian Express revealed.
Students can attend the SWAYAM courses and their university/degree college studies at the same time. While they will study the courses online, computer and laboratory facilities will be provided to the students by the parent institution.
Through SWAYAM and ODL, a student will get the flexibility to pick up any online courses, irrespective of any stream he/she is studying in, and earn credits, TNIE reported. The score received on the SWAYAM website will be covered by certification and will be added to their degree programme.
What else is in the pipeline?
Officials of the department said that all the state public universities have also started onboarding students to the Academic Bank of Credits, a national-level facility that will act as a repository of credits earned by a student.
"The Odisha Higher Education Council has also drafted a four-year undergraduate programme (FYUP) under the NEP-2020 which is currently being reviewed by all the vice-chancellors of public universities. The detailed subject curriculum of FYUP is in the process and the department plans to implement it by 2023-24 or maximum by 2024-25," a higher official of the department said.
Under this FYUP, a transferable credit-based system has been proposed with 160 credits; with one credit for 15 hours of classroom teaching.
In the third year of their course, students will have to choose a subject they want to study in depth. Students can choose from a wide range of subjects ranging from Political Science to Astronomy. In the last two semesters, the student enrolled in FYUP will also undertake research based on their major subject.