- The Union HRD Minister Shri Prakash Javadekar on January 16, announced that about 15% of Indian Universities will provide online degrees and diplomas to students and executives so that they can learn anywhere and anytime.
- The Minister, during 65th meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) announced that only those universities with either a grade of A+ and A++ awarded by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) or a score of 3.26 and above will be permitted to offer online courses. About 15% Indian Universities fulfill these criteria.
- The Minister said that such educational institutions will be free to decide their curriculum and set their question papers, be it multiple choice questions or subjective questions.
- But there is a caveat here. Only all non-technical courses will be available online. Students and executives can not pursue courses in engineering and medicine.
- Although the UGC had in 2016 permitted universities to offer 20 per cent of any course through the online mode. But now Universities will offer all non-technical courses through online mode.
- The HRD Ministry is formulating guidelines for three-year degree courses to be provided via online mode.
- According to ministry, the new announcement is part of the government’s efforts to achieve its Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) target of 30 per cent by 2022.
