National seminar held on National Credit Framework: Credit Transfer Policy

Hyderabad: The UGC-Human Resource Development Centre (HRDC), University of Hyderabad (UoH) in association with the Institution of Eminence (IoE) organized a one day National Seminar on "National Credit Framework: Credit transfer Policy. at the School of Life Sciences Auditorium, University Campus.

Prof Y Narasimhulu, Director, HRDC while welcoming the participants in the inaugural session said, Post 1991 liberalised economic policy transformation has taken place in areas of knowledge and education. The period 2020-2050 will see lots of changes taking place in the areas of digitisation and climate change. We must make our students' responsible, good citizens and be wealth creators for India, he added.

Prof BJ Rao, Vice-Chancellor, UoH while addressing the gathering said that education as a process needs to lead to good learning and information insights. We must educate for nation building, and education has now become education technology with advancement. There are mind related barriers in adopting technology and we must look at breaking these barriers. We must all absorb technology breakthroughs and adopt them in classrooms, he added.

Citing an example in MIT on "poverty alleviation experiment" which was carried out using Indian situations which also received a Nobel Prize, Prof. BJ Rao said, "we must take lead in developing and testing education technology models which can help the slow learners with regard to language barriers and technology barriers". While concluding, Prof. Rao called upon the participants to think of education technology as a problem and debate to find solutions for the same.

Prof. Mangala Sunder Krishnan, Coordinator NPTEL, IITM Chennai, Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at IIT Madras and first Coordinator of Swayam Prabha gave a lecture on "Credit Framework for Higher Studies: Why, What and How".

Prof. Krishnan said that we must offer industry ready (employable) education courses to students'. Re-skilling and up-skilling are continuous requirements for performance. He also stated that quality higher education is the basis for knowledge creation and innovation thereby contributing to a growing national economy. He also explained the difference between Pedagogy (school education) and Andragogy (higher education enabling students to learn and find solutions).

Giving an account of the challenges to students, Prof. Krishnan said that changing curricula, technology advancement and the internet are a cause of concern to both students as well as teachers. The faculty and higher education have a greater role to play as teacher driven learning will be of importance in the future, in spite of the online revolution happening in India through SWAYAM and MOOCS.

He also stated that for the future, online learning and certification for foreign University students via diplomatic missions should be encouraged. Learning and learning-to-learn are two important outcomes of any course programme.

Concluding his address, Prof Krishnan said, "Teaching is a short duration delivery and learning is a lifelong experience. We must assess quite regularly, but it has to be mostly self-assessment.

The one day seminar also had talks from Prof. Y Narasimhulu on Academic Bank of Credits (ABC): Credit Transfer Policy, Designing of Credits and Evaluation by Dr KN Subramanya, R.V. College of Engineering, Bangalore, Credit Curriculum and Qualifications Framework" by Dr N Gopu Kumar, Joint Secretary, UGC and Technology Enabled Learning: Integration of Credits Including Online Evaluation by Prof K Srinivas, NIEPA, New Delhi.