First 3-day 'Training of Teachers' begins

Hyderabad: The University Grants Commission of India (UGC India), a statutory body set up by the Union government assigned with the maintenance of standards of higher education, granting recognition to universities in India has proposed a National Academic Credit Bank. Disclosing this interacting with the media on the sidelines of the three-day Training of Teachers (ToT) for Student Induction Programme (SIP), Prof. Bhushan Patwardhan, Vice Chairman of UGC India, New Delhi told that the proposal is similar to that existing in some foreign universities.

Prof. Patwardhan was the chief guest the training programme organised by the Human Values Cell at IIIT-Hyderabad. It was a first of its kind programme for Training of Teachers (ToT) and being held under the aegis of UGC Quality Mandate. The three-day programme is being attended by around 225 faculty and teachers from leading institutes across Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu. The program will go on till May 18. Subsequently, it will be held at Bangalore, Pune and will be further extended to Bhubaneshwar and Guwahati.

Dr. Renu Batra, Additional Secretary, UGC, New Delhi was also present along with Prof Rajeev Singhal, former Director IIIT-H; Prof. Duraisamy, Vice Chancellor, University of Madras, Chennai and Prof. P. J. Narayan, Director, International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad. The programme was coordinated by Prof. R. Pradeep Kumar of Human Cell of IIIT-H.

Sharing more details, Prof. Bhushan Patwardhan said "as of now it is an idea, proposed sometime back. We want to explore it further. UGC has already appointed a committee which met a couple of times to study the same. Soon it will be put for peer review and explore also how to implement it and work out more modalities. Once this goes through proper deliberations and accepted, we would like to roll it out on an experimental basis or on a pilot project basis in any one of the Universities by the academic year 2021. It will be introduced both Under Graduate and Post Graduate Level", he shared.

Explaining the proposal, Patwardhan said, "If a B. Tech student needs say 150 credit points, of which 120 are mandatory from the core subjects to finish the course. For the rest, he can accrue 30 points by doing hobby courses such as say "Arangetram," or say "Tabla" from a non-conventional institution. Thus the students get 120 points or credits from his core subjects before time and can move on to the subsequent level without waiting to spend scheduled or stipulated time in the course by redeeming the 30 points earned." The proposal which was proposed by him recently in Pune is still in deliberations stage only, he added.

With the National Academic Credit Bank, gaining acceptance among the community, inter-university degrees to be a reality in the near future in India, he explained. When he shared the news about it and asked the feedback of the 225-strong participants, 90 per cent of them raised their hands in support of the new initiative.

The higher educational institutions play an essential role in the development of individuals, family, and society. It lays a strong foundation for a strong nation. The goal is to enrich all fields of knowledge. Nearly 3.6crore students enroll for Higher Education in India. It is the responsibility of Universities/colleges to provide quality education to each and every student.