Fix loopholes before implementing UGC's Academic Bank of Credits: Educationists

The Academic Bank of Credits (ABC), a digital storehouse that contains the information of all the academic credits earned by students, and which enables them to study across the Higher Education Institutions (HEI) in the country with an appropriate credit transfer system, is expected to be implemented from this academic year.

However, this scheme has many pros and cons and there are issues which still need to be addressed before it gets implemented, said experts in the field of education.

Envisaged under the National Education Policy, 2020, the ABC acts as a digital or online entity established and managed by the University Grants Commission (UGC). It facilitates students to become their own academic account holders and paves the way for seamless student mobility, between or within degree-granting HEIs through a formal system of credit recognition. It is an instrument for facilitating multidisciplinary and holistic education.

To be precise, under the ABC, a student can earn a degree from any HEI, with multiple entry and exit options. Instead of spending three years in one college, a student can seamlessly switch over from one college to another one. In order to earn a degree, a student will now require to hold a certain number of credits under his or her account.

For example, if a BCom student studies in one college, he or she can change college after one year. He or she can join the same course after a break. Until then, the credits the student earned in that one year will be maintained in their ABC account and it can be used when the student rejoins the same course in any other college. Also, the commerce student, besides studying his or her core subjects, can take elective papers in other subjects, say psychology or economics.

While 50 per cent of the course is made up of the core subjects the student has enrolled in, the other 50 per cent is made up of electives chosen by them. These electives can be pursued from any institution across the country, through online or offline or both. The final degree is to be awarded by the university in which the student has enrolled for his major subject.

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‘ABC will affect organised, systematic learning’

It may look superficially good but there are many disadvantages under this scheme, felt experts. Prof Dr G Ramesh, vice president, Tamil Nadu Government Collegiate Teachers Association said this scheme will destroy “organised, systematic learning”.

Firstly, he felt students may find it difficult to change colleges from different universities. According to the professor, under the current system of college education, the universities allow students to shift from one college to another. The students usually change colleges, because their parents may get transferred or there may be any unfortunate events like the death of a parent or a guardian, etc. But they are still able to transfer to another college under the same university. Or else, it would become difficult for students to cope because the papers he or she studied in one university may differ from the other university.

“The papers a student studied in the first semester of one university, may differ from the first semester papers of another university. So, he or she needs to study the extra papers in the new university to earn credits,” he said.

Secondly, the university or the college a student studies in also makes a difference in terms of the name and quality of education provided. All of this will affect the organised, systematic and structured learning, added Ramesh.

‘A welcoming concept, but lot needs to be done’

The UGC has notified ‘The University Grants Commission (Establishment of Academic Bank of Credits in Higher Education) Regulations, 2021’ in the Gazette of India on July 28, 2021. In its circular dated January 12, 2022, the UGC had informed that an amendment has been made on December 28, 2021 in the regulation.

In the original regulation, the UGC had made it compulsory for HEIs that received ‘A’ grade from the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) or fall in the top 100 National Institutions Ranking Framework (NIRF) rankings, to register for ABC. But after the amendment, any college or university, irrespective of their NAAC or NIRF ranking, are allowed to participate in the ABC scheme. It has also brought IITs, IIMs and institutes of national importance under this scheme as well.

Welcoming the scheme, Col G Thiruvasagam, former vice chancellor of University of Madras and the president of Association of Indian Universities said in an interview to The Federal, “there is a possibility now that an economically poor student can even get an education from IIT or IIM under the ABC scheme, of course, if these institutions will take such students.” There is no clarity on the matter as yet, he admitted.

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“Suppose if the student has enrolled in a government college, there may be a lack of labs or equipment for his study. So, he can take a course in an IIT or IIM and earn a credit and can transfer it to his ABC account, which will help in his career. However, at this stage, we still don’t know if the IITs and IIMs will allow such students,” he said.

According to him, such a system of credit transfer already exists in the name of ‘choice-based credit system’, which has not been successfully implemented.

He pointed out that higher education in India already had robust programmes such as the ‘twinning programme’, where a student studies a course in India for one year and pursues the course the next year in a foreign university, and a ‘joint degree programme’, where a student receives a degree through collaborative partnership of one or more institutions. There’s also the ‘dual-degree programme’, where a student concurrently studies two separate degree programmes but none of these have all been properly executed, said Col G Thiruvasagam/

“We like to compete with foreign educational institutions but when there is no proper infrastructure and funding, implementing ABC schemes will become difficult,” added Thiruvasagam.

‘Credit transfer should be physical mode’

Meanwhile, educationist Jayaprakash Gandhi felt the scheme should be implemented after various issues have been addressed.

He suggested that there should be a kind of orientation for the students. The transfer of credits should be allowed only in the final year at first, he advised.

“In the first two years, let the students study in one institution and they can change to another institution in the third year or final year, especially for their elective or specialisation courses. Then the transfer of credit should be in physical mode and not online. Otherwise, the institutions will suffer because they have invested a lot in infrastructure. If everything goes online in the future, then there will be no need of physical colleges and institutions,” he said.

To study the non-core or elective subjects — a student can choose any other institution or a mix of institutions registered with the ABC framework. The entire elective section can be pursued from another institution, online or offline or a mix of both.

Therefore, Gandhi added that before transferring the credits, the colleges must ensure that the students have paid the fees. Also in the initial stage, the elective courses should be relevant to the major subjects taken up by the student.

Gandhi also felt it is important to note that the credit transfer should happen within the university. “For example, if a student from Anna University opts to study a course from IIT, then there will be no meaning for IIT in conducting their entrance exams. There should be ‘one admission policy’ across the country. Because, for instance, the admission for agriculture courses has still not started in Tamil Nadu. Whereas in the other parts of the country, the classes are going on. When there is no common admission policy, the credit transfer cannot happen successfully. Such kind of issues must be addressed before implementing this scheme. If there are any loopholes, then the scheme will be a disaster,” said Gandhi.