The Central University of Odisha (CUO), located in the Koraput district, has become the first higher education institution in the state to fully adhere to the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, as per a report by The New Indian Express. The university achieved this feat by implementing several measures, including enrolling over 95% of its students on the Academic Bank of Credits (ABC) platform, revising its curriculum to align with the Learning Outcomes based Curriculum Framework (LoCF) of the UGC, and emphasising multidisciplinarity.
In a recent meeting of vice-chancellors from 45 central educational institutions with UGC Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar, the Controller of Examination of CUO, Jayanta Nayak, announced the university has enrolled more than 95% of its students on the ABC platform and has uploaded data on the student credits earned from programs during or after the 2021-22 academic year.
The ABC is a national digital facility of the UGC created by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology's National e-governance division, housed within the DigiLocker framework. It functions as an academic bank, allowing students to manage and transfer credits between courses and universities by using their academic bank account, which stores their academic credits and awards, according to the report.
The university has made several changes to its programmes by the UGC's Learning Outcomes-based Curriculum Framework (LoCF), with a specific emphasis on multidisciplinarity. It has discontinued the choice-based credit system and has revised all of its programs, except the integrated programs that currently support multiple entry and exit options. The MPhil program is no longer available, and PG programs now require an internship or apprenticeship period. In addition, PG students must select courses from free e-learning platforms, such as SWAYAM and MOOC, provided by the Ministry of Education to earn 40% of their required credits.
"We have now decided to do away with the norm of submitting migration and college leaving certificates to support dual degrees at the PG level, thereby allowing our students to pursue two academic programmes. This was approved in the academic council meeting held this month and is going to be placed before the executive council before it is implemented," Nayak said as per the report.