Increase online constituent of regular university courses: Govt panel

A government-appointed committee, tasked with suggesting ways to promote online learning during the coronavirus lockdown, has recommended changing UGC regulations to raise the limit on online instruction in regular programmes across universities.

A government-appointed committee, which has been set to suggest ways to promote online education during the coronavirus lockdown, has suggested tweaking University Grant Commission (UGC) regulations to raise the limit on online instruction in regular programmes across universities.

At present, the UGC (Credit Framework for online learning courses through SWAYAM) Regulations, 2016, allows the higher education institutions to offer up to 20 per cent of the courses offered in a programme each semester using online learning platform SWAYAM. This online portal is run by the Ministry of Human Resource Development and offers Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).

The committee under the chairmanship of Nageshwar Rao, Vice-Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), has recommended that the cap should be extended to 40 per cent in national interest during the coronavirus pandemic.

The UGC is expected to issue guidelines on university examinations and online learning next week, based on the report submitted by the committee.

The report has suggested that the universities who have either a valid National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) score equal or more than 3.01 or is ranked in top 100 in overall National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF ) ranking at least once in last two cycles should be allowed to offer online courses without UGC's permission.