The Central University of Odisha (CUO) at Koraput has brought several changes, as introduced by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The varsity has started transferring credits and certificates earned by its students to the academic bank of credits (ABC) portal, among other measures.
The ABC portal is a national digital facility of UGC developed by the national e-governance division of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology under the DigiLocker framework. It works as an academic bank account where students’ academic credits and awards would be stored. The platform will facilitate them to maintain and transfer credits between courses and universities, as per a report by The New Indian Express.
During a recent meeting of Vice-Chancellors of 45 central institutions with UGC chairman Prof M Jagadesh Kumar, controller of examinations at CUO, Jayanta Nayak informed the university has already registered over 95 per cent of its students on the ABC platform and uploaded data on student credits earned from programmes during and after the 2021-22 academic year. "The data will go live soon," he said.
The university has also done away with the choice-based credit system (CBCS) and redesigned all its programmes as per the learning outcomes-based curriculum framework (LoCF) of UGC, with a focus on multi-disciplinarity. However, it is currently supporting multiple entry and exit options in only its integrated programmes, as per TNIE.
Next, CUO has discontinued its MPhil programme but has embedded a mandatory internship/apprenticeship period into all the PG programmes. PG students have additionally been directed to choose courses from SWAYAM and MOOC (free e-learning platforms of the Ministry of Education) to earn 40 per cent of their 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 TNIE.
