Chandigarh : The Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD) in its letter to Panjab University has written to push for open online courses. This initiative of the University Grants Commission (UGC) is to encourage anytime, anywhere study for e-learners and will also help in bringing the cost down with these technological advancements.
The UGC in its guidelines has stated that there will be three types of courses: core, elective and foundation. In the core course, the student will be required to study the course in every semester, enabling the student to fulfill the requirements of the opted course and get the basics right. Similarly, the elective course will offer options of the pool of papers like supportive to the discipline of study, providing an expanded scope, enabling an exposure to some other discipline, nurturing students’ proficiency. Lastly, the foundation course will be based on content of knowledge as it will be a value-based course.
The UGC has put up a ten-point grading system for the online courses, along with the option of Choice Based Credit System (CBCS), in which they can select from the prescribed courses that includes the core, minor or soft skill courses. The letter also states that the university is permitted to decide the courses for implementation of this programme in the university and its affiliated colleges.
Moreover, the university can offer only 20 percent of the total courses being offered under a particular programme in a semester, that will be allowed through online learning courses which will be free of cost for the students. This initiative under the ‘Study webs of active learning for young aspiring minds’ (SWAYAM) every year will bring out the list of online courses going to be offered in the forthcoming semester on June 1 and November 1 every year.
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