The University Grants Commission (UGC) has increased the credit limit for online courses from 20% to 40% in a move that it claims will make courses on the central government's SWAYAM platform 'more accessible' to students. Institutions have been given four weeks to revamp their curricula in order to suit best with the new guidelines, and with the courses on SWAYAM.
Colleges are also under orders to appoint facilitators for these programmes from amongst the faculty to guide them through the process. In a word to the managements of institutions, the UGC has also said that the institutions must ensure that they are equipped with all the required infrastructure in order to allow students to take these online courses from the college. The infrastructure shouldn't be charged for from the students, said the UGC.
The SWAYAM or Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds portal was launched by the Government of India in July 2017 with the aim of making the "best teaching resources available to all."
The government also claims that SWAYAM is the world's largest online free e-learning platform. The increase in the number of credits allotted to SWAYAM is a part of the push towards online education in the National Education Policy, 2020.
The UGC has said that the points earned for the courses on the website will be converted into credit points which will make up the final certification the student receives.
