To fulfill the vision of National Education Policy 2020, making education more holistic and effective and laying emphasis on the integration of general (academic) education, vocational education, and Experiential learning including relevant experience and professional levels acquired, it becomes imperative to establish and formalize a national credit accumulation and transfer system which will integrate both general & vocational education while ensuring mobility of candidates between the two systems. The National Credit Framework (NC) has been jointly developed by UGC, AICTE, NCVET, NIOS, CBSE, NCERT, Ministry of Education, DGT, and Ministry of Skill Development to achieve this vision and intent of NEP. NCrF is a comprehensive framework encompassing elementary, school, higher, and vocational education & training, integrating learning in all dimensions i.e. academics, vocational skills, and experiential learning including relevant experience and professional levels acquired.
The National Credit Framework (NCrF) shall be an inclusive umbrella Framework to seamlessly integrate the credits earned through school education, higher education, and vocational & skill education. For the crepitation and integration of all learning, the National Credit Framework (NCrF) shall encompass the qualification frameworks for higher education, vocational & skill education, and school education, namely National Higher Education Qualification Framework (NHEQF), National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF) and National School Education Qualification Framework (NSEQF) also popularly known as National Curricular Framework (NCF) respectively. The implementation of NCrF would be a game changer in realizing the vision and intent of NEP by removing distinction, ensuring flexibility & mobility, and establishing an academic equivalence between general and vocational education. Such integration shall open numerous options for further progression of students and inter-mingling of school & higher education with vocational education & Experiential learning including relevant experience and professional levels acquired, to further enable entry and re-entry from the vocational stream to general education and vice-versa, thus mainstreaming vocational education and skilling.
The National Credit Framework (NCrF) provides for broad-based, multi-disciplinary, holistic education, allowing imaginative and need-based curricular structures and enabling creative combinations of subjects and disciplines. The Framework has been built on the strength of existing regulations, guidelines, and qualification frameworks of UGC, AICTE, NCVET, NCERT, CBSE & NIOS so that the options for Multiple Entry-Multiple Exit (ME-ME) are accessible and applicable across higher education, school education, and vocational education.
The National Credit Framework (NCrF) provides for the Assignment, Accumulation, Storage, Transfer & Redemption of Credits. The NCrF paves way for multidisciplinary education and empowers students through flexibility in the choice of courses for choosing their own learning trajectories and programs, and thereby choose their paths in life with appropriate career choice, including an option for mid-way course corrections, according to their talents and interests. NCrF fully enables the students with opportunities to catch up and re-enter the education ecosystem in case they have fallen behind or dropped out at any stage. NCrF also fully supports educational acceleration for students with gifted learning abilities and Recognition of Prior Learning for a workforce that has acquired knowledge and skills informally through the traditional family inheritance, work experience, or other methods, thereby allowing them progression and mobility into the formal education ecosystem. The total Notional Learning Hours for assignment of credits across school education, higher education, and vocational education /skilling has been agreed to be 1200 Hrs per year for which the students/ learners shall be awarded 40 Credits. For the purpose of credit calculations under the National Credit Framework (NCrF), 30 notional learning hours will be counted as one Credit. However, the assignment of credits is independent of the education streams, subjects, or type of learning, subject to assessment. The students/ learners may take additional courses/ programs/subjects/projects beyond 40 credits to get additional credits for the same.
NCrF recognizes no hard separation between different areas of learning, i.e. arts and sciences, vocational and academic streams, curricular and extra-curricular for the purpose of assignment of credits and credit levels. In the true spirit of the National Education Policy 2020, the total learning hours can be credited, subject to assessment, and may include classroom teaching/ learning, laboratory work/ innovation labs/ class projects/ assignments/ tutorials; sports and games, yoga, physical activities, performing arts, music, handicraft work, social work, NCC, bagless days; examinations/ class tests/ quizzes/ assessments; vocational education, training, and skilling, minor/ major project work/ field visits in skill education as well as on-the-job training (OJT)/ internship/ apprenticeship/ Experiential learning including relevant experience and professional levels acquired, etc.
Such an approach would also close the gap in the achievement of learning outcomes by shifting classroom education to competency and learning outcome-based education and learning. Under the National Credit Framework (NCrF) every learning can be credited subject to its assessment. Under NCrF, the Credit levels to be assigned across school/ higher/ vocational education/ skilling, (independent of the streams, subjects, etc) will be based on the cumulative numbers of years of learning with assessment. For earning credits, the
course/ qualification should be qualification framework aligned and approved with a defined NCrF level and clearly describing the desired competency and learning outcome expected. Also, the learning outcome shall be assessed after completing the course/ qualification for the assignment of credits. The assessment is thus mandatory for earning credits for all types of learning and progression to the next assessment band. The Assessment Bands are the stages at which the student/ learner needs to be formally assessed for progression in academic/ vocational/skilling streams. (e.g. 10th/ 12th board exams, DGT’s assessment and exams for CTS, UG/ PG semester exams). The NCrF Credits for the two courses/ qualifications/ programs may be added to each other and accumulated in ABC if these are earned in the same assessment band, subject to the guidelines of the respective regulators. The NCrF credit levels for school education are up to level 4, while for higher education from Level 4.5. to level 8 [Under Graduate Levels 4.5, 5.0, 5.5 & 6.0, Post Graduate Levels 6.0, 6.5 & 7.0, and Ph.D. Level 8] and for vocational education & training level 1 to level 8. The total Credit Points earned by the student could be obtained by multiplying the credits earned with the NCrF Level at which the credits have been earned. The credit points may be redeemed as per the guidelines of the Academic Bank of Credit (ABC) for entry or admission in school, higher, technical, or vocational education programs/ courses at multiple levels enabling horizontal and vertical mobility with various lateral entry options.
In addition to the credits for higher education, the Academic Bank of Credit (ABC) shall also be expanded for credits earned through school education, vocational education, skilling, apprenticeships, internships, project work, etc. ABC could digitally store the academic and other credits earned from recognized institutions so that credits could be redeemed and the relevant award granted taking into account the credits earned at various NCrF levels. The credits may also be linked to Digi locker for easy verification and portability.
The National Credit Framework (NCrF) also enables the crepitation of Experiential learning including relevant experience and professional levels acquired, based on the weightage for relevant experience and proficiency levels achieved, subject to assessment.
Assignment of Credits has been enabled for online, digital, and blended learning in vocational education and skilling to expand the open /distance learning options and to promote extensive use of technology in learning & skilling. This would help in overcoming the constraints of physical infrastructure & scalability while enhancing access, equity, and affordability and ensuring quality and accountability. The blended learning option shall also enhance the accessibility of learning in the Indian language for 90% non-English medium students as well as Divyangs.
National Credit Framework (NCrF) will encourage the Internationalization of education through credit transfer provisions thus enabling wider international equivalence, recognition and acceptance of Indian education and skilling by other countries, promoting exchange with foreign universities and institutions.
Thus, there would be only one credit Framework for higher education, school education and skill education, namely the National Credit Framework (NCrF) which would be the mother framework document notified for integrating the creolization of learning in various dimensions of academics, skilling, and experiential learning including relevant experience and professional levels acquired and only a single credit system would be operationalized through the Academic Bank of Credits (ABC). The qualification frameworks for school, higher education, and skills would be an addendum to NCrF and aligned with it. The basic principles and provisions of the National Credit Framework (NCrF) would be applicable to all the qualification frameworks.
National Credit Framework (NCrF) shall act as a broad enabling framework for all regulatory organizations (UGC, AICTE, NCVET, NCERT, etc.), autonomous institutions, including Universities, INIs, CBSE, NIOS, State School Boards, State Technical Education Boards, etc. who may, wherever required, notify their detailed implementation guidelines within this Framework. The NCrF empowers institutions and enables them with the required flexibility for catering to their specific academic requirements for creating imaginative and flexible curricular structures, creative combinations of disciplines and
other special needs.
Thus, there would be only one credit framework for higher education, school education and skill education, namely the National Credit Framework (NCrF) which would be the mother framework document notified for integrating the creolisation of learning in various dimensions of academics, skilling, and Experiential learning including relevant experience and professional levels acquired and only a single credit system would be operationalized through the Academic Bank of Credits (ABC). The qualification frameworks for school, higher education and skills would be part of an addendum to NCrF. The basic principles and provisions of the National Credit Framework (NCrF) would be applicable to all the qualification frameworks (NHEQF and NSQF are already aligned with NCrF).
Thus the NCrF shall not only enable the effective implementation of the National Education Policy 2020 through the integration of various policy endeavors under general education and vocational education, but will also be a game changer to establish a benchmark for holistic education and learning integrated with skills, by removal of barriers, infusion of flexibility and creating lifelong learning opportunities. NC will enable the transformation of India by providing high-quality education opportunities integrated with effective skills to reap the demographic dividend-making education and skilling are truly aspirational.
(Disclaimer: The summary has been taken from the National Credit Framework Report)
