A ‘digital university’ will be established by August this year by the Ministry of Education and its partners. The concept has been endorsed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said the institution would “solve the issue of seats,” and asked stakeholders to expedite the process on Monday.
In order to enrol more students, the government wants to merge universities into one digital university. Students can earn certificates, diplomas, and degrees from the university.
High-level officials, educational leaders, and NGOs discussed the prospects and problems of transforming the university into a digital one after the PM’s speech.
Increasing the enrollment rate of 18-23-year-olds in India’s degree programs to 50% in 15 years is one of the goals of the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Student attention spans, stable digital connectivity, and student device availability are among the challenges.
What is a digital university ? Group discussion
Additionally to K. Two-and-a-half hours of discussion were held between Sanjay Murthy, UGC chairman M Jagadesh Kumar, AICTE chairman Anil Sahasrabudhe, IIT Madras director Professor V. Kamakoti, and Swati A. Piramal, vice chairwoman of the NGO Piramal Group.
For proposals presented during the webinar, an administration deadline of six months to a year has been set. The UGC requested that there be no upper limit on the number of seats or online programmes offered by the digital university. The program is open to all 12th graders.
In the current system, university admissions eliminate
Students with high class 12 scores are often denied admission to their preferred colleges. We can solve that problem with a digital university… “Anyone who has passed Class 12 can apply to any course,” Jagadesh Kumar said during the discussion.
An edtech collaboration section is being developed by the commission. Students can participate in student programmes on edutech platforms when colleges and universities work with them. Regulations on this are in the works.” he added.
In the digital system, universities will offer their own courses based on their own regulations.
During the discussion, it was announced that the UGC would develop a regulatory framework for digital universities within two months. In addition to NGOs like the Piramal Foundation, the government has sought their help on implementing the policy and learning from their experience.
IIT Roorkee invites applications for this position today
PM Modi National Digital University will have infinite seats for all subjects.
Highlights of Digital University
According to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his inaugural speech yesterday, there will be enough places for students to study their chosen subjects. University and college courses are typically fewer in number, increasing rivalry. In the digital university, this issue will be addressed and students will be able to register for courses.
Rural and remote students will have access to quality education through remote learning. Courses will be taught in multiple languages, increasing student diversity.
You can offer faculty development, participation in SEDGs, development of employability skills, excellent learning materials in regional languages (Recognizing Prior Learning), etc.
By combining online and physical modes (phy-igital), immersive learning, peer-to-peer learning communities, and synchronised experiential learning are all possible.
Increasing enrollment.
A digital university aims to reach 50% of the population aged 18-23 who attend college in 15 years through the Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER).
GER is estimated to be almost 27% in the recent All India Survey of Higher Education. (AISHE).
As they progress through higher education, the number of students in the system declines, according to the AISHE report of 2019-20 and U-DISE report published in the same year.
According to the data, 84.65 million undergraduate students attended, compared with 215 million class 8 pupils. According to a presentation, fewer than 1% of students choose engineering, management, or computer science as a bachelor’s degree.
To achieve this goal, bachelor degrees need to be reimagined and employment-oriented courses should be offered.
