On the first anniversary of the National Education Policy (NEP), the Centre plans to officially roll out some initiatives promised in the policy, such as the Academic Bank of Credit

Academic Bank of Credit

• Academic Bank of Credit referred to as ABC is a virtual storehouse that will keep records of academic credits secured by a student.
• It is drafted on the lines of the National Academic Depository.
• It will function as a commercial bank where students will be the customers and ABC will offer several services to these students.
• Students will have to open an Academic Bank Account and every account holder would be provided with a unique id and Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).
• The academic accounts of students will have credits awarded by higher education Institutes to students for the courses they are pursuing.
• However, ABC will not accept any credit course document directly from the students, and its institutes that will make the deposits in students’ accounts.

Functions of ABCs

• ABC will be responsible for opening, closing, and validating the academic accounts of students.
• It will also perform tasks including credit verification, credit accumulation, credit transfer/redemption of students, and promotion of the ABC among the stakeholders.
• The courses will also include online and distance mode courses offered through National Schemes like SWAYAM, NPTEL, V-Lab etc.
• The validity of these academic credits earned by students will be up to seven years. The validity can also vary based on the subject or discipline. Students can redeem these credits.
• For instance, if a student has accumulated 100 credits which are equivalent to say one year and they decide to drop out.
• Once they decide to rejoin they can redeem this credit and seek admission directly in the second year at any university. The validity will be up to seven years, hence, students will have to rejoin within seven years.

Benefits for students

• The participating HEIs in the ABC scheme will enable students to build their degrees as per their choices.
• As per UGC guidelines, the higher education institutes will have to allow students to acquire credits 50-70% of credits assigned to a degree from any institute.
• Students, depending upon their needs can take this opportunity.
• UGC will ensure that students secured the minimum credits to be secured in the core subject area.

By: VISHAL GOYAL