All HEIs offering Online and Distance Learning courses must comply with ABC: UGC

The University Grants Commission (UGC) stated on Monday, October 31, that all Higher Educational Institutions that are providing Online and Open and Distance Learning (ODL) programmes must comply with the Academic Bank of Credit (ABC) system. The UGC is going to address a letter to all the concerned HEIs in this regard soon, asking them to register their students for the ABC.

UGC Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar, speaking on the subject, said that there will be mandatory compliance with the ABC for programmes offered in ODL and Online modes. According to him, there are 58 HEIs offering online and 86 HEIs offering ODL programmes across India, as noted in a report by IANS. "The UGC is going to tell these institutions that the ABC is mandatory as envisaged in the NEP 2020 (National Education Policy) and is a national-level facility to promote flexibility of the Curriculum Framework and the interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary academic mobility of students across the HEls in the country with an appropriate Credit Transfer mechanism," he stated.

The ABC provides each of the students the facility to open a unique individual Academic Bank Account in digital form. Each account holder is provided with a unique ID. The major functions of ABC are the registration of HEls under the system; the opening, closure and validation of academic accounts of students; credit verification, credit accumulation and credit transfer or redemption of the students, and also the promotion of the ABC among the stakeholders, Kumar explained.

"Accordingly, the Ministry of Education (MoE) has directed HEIs to adopt the ABC mandatorily, to create an ABC ID for students and to deposit their credits with ABC for programmes offered in the ODL and Online modes. Further, the LMS (Learning Management System) of all Universities offering such programmes may be integrated similarly with the ABC portal," he said, as per IANS. "In this regard, a help manual for creating ABC ID for the students through the DigiLocker portal will be attached with the documents of UGC for the reference of the HEIs. In view of the above, HEIs are requested to comply with the above direction and communicate the action taken in the matter to UGC," the Chairman added.