Concept of universities will change, will no longer be confined to campus: UGC Chairman
The newly appointed Chairman of the University Grants Commission, Prof M. Jagadesh Kumar in a freewheeling conversation with Shiksha.com, spoke about various advantages of online degree courses and regulatory reforms which are on offing. Prof Kumar explained the structure of the virtual university and how autonomous colleges will offer online courses. The interview has been published in two parts, below is the second part of the interview.
Q. UGC and the government is promoting online degree, but the general perception is that online or distance degree is not of the same value as the conventional degree gained through physical mode?
A. This mindset is changing as when you look at industry reports it shows how hiring trends are changing. Today’s hiring practices indicate that the hiring is being done based on the skill sets a candidate has rather than the degree one has.
Let's look at the example of a degree in Data Science taken from various institutions, the companies are open to giving such candidates job, based on the skills he or she has acquired. So, this perception that if you have a full-fledged degree then only you will get the job is going away.
As per some of the industry reports, students who have completed their degree from a conventional university compared to the ones who have done the online course, later tend to stay 35 per cent longer in a company vis-a-vis former.
So, the hiring practices are becoming more skill-oriented than degree oriented.
It is also to be noted that all institutions are offering online degrees, if IIT Madras, JNU, or Delhi University is offering online degrees, it will have its reputation, therefore there is no worry.
Q. A section of academics are worried that pushing online degrees would cause job losses in universities and colleges?
A. This fear is completely unfounded because even today there is a large number of vacant positions in universities, even IITs have over 30 per cent vacant faculty posts. As India is a growing country we will continue to build physical universities, it is going to happen that country would stop investing in the physical infrastructure of higher education institutions.
But, with the onset of online education, the role of the teacher would change. It is no longer going to be just going inside the classroom and writing on the blackboard, they will have to become tech-savvy. They will learn to convert their intellectual knowledge into digital resources, so they will have to learn new tools. Their communication, technical abilities will have to be improved, so they will be performing newer roles rather than just going into classrooms and lecturing, but that would transform into mentoring.
The concept of universities will also change, the university will no longer be confined to campus, but it will be distributed over a network, where students are geographically distributed.
So, now we need to think of what should be the governance model for online universities? What should be the teaching-learning model for online universities? What will be the role of teachers? So we need to brainstorm on all these issues.
Q. Could you explain the spoke and hub model of virtual university?
A. As the prime minister talked about the virtual university, the hub will be administrative and technical support and this hub will collaborate with leading institutions in India and abroad. Once many universities start offering online degree courses then this hub university will pick the best course from the best teacher and they will form the spokes.
All these courses offered by all these higher education institutions will be offered through this hub university.
Students will be able to customize their courses based on the choice of university, choice of subjects and choice of teachers.
There will be credit requirements as per UGC norms and based on that they will have to pull together the courses.
Q. What kind of assistance will be provided to select courses and subjects thorough this?
A. Model curriculum will be there like in the first semester there will be three compulsory courses while depending on their interests they will have choices beyond compulsory subjects. We will also provide guidance, in-built help will be there.
Q. How do you look at the implementation of various provisions of NEP in universities like multiple entry and exit options?
A. All these provisions will be made available through this online mode of education like I can do one semester then go for the job in the next semester and then again come back and do my next semester, all those options will be there in this new model.
Students will be able to accumulate credits in the academic bank of credit.
Q. The NEP lays emphasis on the concept of MDUs and during your tenure at JNU, Engg and MBA departments were started. Does it not dilute the core structure with which specialized institutions were created?
A. Not necessarily, if we take the example of IIT Delhi which is good in technology and if it joins hands with AIIMS and starts a joint degree in Biomedical engineering. The engineering component will come from IIT, and the biology component will come from AIIMS, its multi-disciplinary course, how will this dilute the quality of the degree. In this case, we are using the strengths of two institutes and creating a programme, similarly, in JNU we started a course in Ayurveda Biology. Ayurveda was part of the School of Sanskrit and Biology is taught in Life Sciences, and we brought the two together and started this multi-disciplinary programme. I don’t think this dilutes the quality of the institution.
Q. There are reports that over 900 autonomous colleges will be allowed to offer courses online. How is that going to be done?
A. They will have to fulfil NAAC and NIRF conditions to offer online courses. Now, the advantage of this is everyone will try to improve their infrastructure, faculty, teaching-learning process to get into the NIRF Ranking.
Those who are not part of the NIRF Rankings or do not fall into the NAAC grade of 3.26 or above will have to apply separately, then a committee will evaluate them and see what kind of facilities they have and based on that they will be allowed to offer courses online.
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Abhay an alumnus of IIMC and Delhi University, has over a decade long experience of reporting on various beats of journalism. During his free time he prefers listening to music or play indoor and outdoor games.