UGC forms Academic Bank of Credits, students to tailor their own courses in higher studies

ABC will facilitate students to choose their own learning path to attain a Degree or Diploma or Post Graduate diploma or academic qualification.

Taking a step forward towards implementing a key suggestion in the NEP 2020, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has formed norms to establish Academic Bank of Credits (ABC) to help students learn subjects as per their choice from multiple colleges and varsities at the same time.  The regulations called the University Grants Commission (Establishment and Operation of Academic Banks of Credits in High Education) Regulations, 2021 were notified in the gazette.

As per the UGC notification, the ABC shall be a national-level facility to promote flexibility of curriculum framework and interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary academic mobility of students across Higher Education Institutions in the country. This will be done with an appropriate credit transfer mechanism that shall facilitate students to choose their own learning path to attain a Degree or Diploma or Post Graduate diploma or academic qualification.

The ABC will provide significant autonomy to students by giving them an extensive choice of courses of study, flexibility in curriculum, novel and engaging course options across a number of higher education disciplines or institutions. The move is aimed at enabling students to select the best courses or combination of courses to suit their aptitude and quest for knowledge. It will also allow students to tailor their degrees or make specific modifications or specialisations rather than undergoing the rigid, regularly prescribed degree or courses of a single university or autonomous college.

It will also pave the way for a key NEP recommendation: multiple entry-multiple exits for students to complete their degrees as per their time preferences.

“The regulations are meant to create appropriate credit transfer mechanism and shall facilitate students to choose their own learning path to attain a Degree or Diploma or Post Graduate diploma or academic qualification, working on the principle of multiple entry-multiple exits as well as any-time, any-where, and any-level learning,” the notification says.

“It will enable the integration of multiple disciplines of higher learning, leading to the desired learning outcomes including enhanced creativity, innovation, higher-order thinking and critical analysis,” it adds.

The ABC will provide the opportunity for students to tailor their degrees or make specific modifications or specialisations rather than undergoing the rigid, regularly prescribed degree or courses of a single university or autonomous college. It will also permit students to choose a pace for their studies along with the associated logistics and costs, the notification says.

ABC shall be established, on the lines of the National Academic Depository (NAD), which stores a student’s academic documents and shall have a website providing all details of ABC and its operational mechanism for the use of all stakeholders of higher education.

It will be a bank for academic purposes, following the pattern of commercial banks for financial purposes, with students as academic account holders. Students will be able to avail themselves of a variety of services including credit verification, credit accumulation, credit transfer or redemption, and authentication of academic awards.

On July 29, to mark the completion of one year of reforms under the National Education Policy (NEP), Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched several initiatives in the education sector including the Academic Bank of Credit. 

Read the official notification here

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