In a new policy to expand better learning among the students, the premier Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) will adopt the National Credit Framework (NCrF) to facilitate earning, transfer and accumulation of credits by students, the IIT Council has decided in its 55th meeting as stated in the report by PTI.
What is National Credit Framework (NCrf)?
The NCrF, notified last week, is a comprehensive credit framework encompassing elementary, school, higher and vocational education and training.
It also integrates creditisation of learning in various dimensions — academics, vocational skills and experiential learning — as well as relevant experience, proficiency and professional levels.
NEP 2020 and its implementation in IITs
In the IIT Council meeting held in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday, April 18, UGC (University Grants Commission) Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar made a presentation on NCrF. The council decided unanimously to adopt the National Credit Framework and implement it across all IITs.
"The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 envisions making education more holistic and effective and emphasises the integration of general (academic) education and vocational education and a national credit accumulation and transfer system is essential to fulfilling this vision," the chairman said.
The chairman further elaborated on the functioning of the new educational framework. "The government constituted a high-level committee with members from UGC, AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education), NCVET (National Council for Vocational Education and Training), NIOS (National Institute of Open Schooling ), CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education), NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training), DGT (Directorate General of Training), Ministry of Education and Ministry of Skill Development," says Kumar.
Academic improvement
The report stated that it will encompass school education under a credit framework for the first time. NCrF has divided the learning ecosystem into eight levels, assigning credits based on learning hours.
The chairman added, "Adoption of national credit framework by the IIT Council is a great decision since this will provide a better equivalence of credits obtained in general (academic) education, technical education, and skill and vocational education."
The UGC chairman also said that, "It will encourage the rest of the higher education system to adopt and implement the national credit framework bringing a unified inclusive meta framework across the country."
The IIT Council is the apex coordination body of all the 23 premier engineering colleges and looks after the administrative and other key affairs at the IITs. It includes directors and chairpersons of all 23 IITs.
