The University Grants Commission (UGC) had developed a draft National Higher called Educational Qualification Framework (NHEQF). The commission had earlier put out a notification inviting suggestions from stakeholders through emails at [email protected]. The last date to do so is today, February 21. Earlier, the last date to submit the feedback was February 13 but has later extended.
In the 72-page draft, the UGC has listed several unique features of NEP. The draft framework, released as part of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 implementation aims to bring job readiness to constitutional values, theoretical knowledge to technical skills, higher education institutes across the country.
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As per the draft, NHEQF has set up a few parameters for assessing students in higher education institutions and divided them into levels 5 to 10. “The variation in types of HEIs in India result in a lack of comparability of outcomes associated with different qualifications across institutions. It constraints the mobility of students and their employability,” the draft read.
“The NHEQF is an attempt in this direction. The NHEQF is an instrument for the development, classification, and recognition of qualifications along a continuum of levels from 5 to 10, with levels 1 to 4 of the National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF) covering school education,” the draft added.
The UGC, in its draft also said that the framework is not to promote a uniform curriculum or national common syllabus. “It may be noted that the NHEQF is not intended to promote a uniform curriculum or national common syllabus for a programme of study or to prescribe a set of approaches to the teaching-learning process and assessment of student learning levels.”
It added that the purpose is to bring up or elevate all HEIs to a common level of benchmarking to “ensure that all institutions are providing quality education. The framework is intended to allow for flexibility and innovation in (i) programme design and syllabi development, (ii) teaching-learning process, (iii) assessment of students’ learning levels, and (iv) periodic programme review within a broad framework of agreed expected programme/course learning outcomes and academic standard.”
Talking about the different levels, it said that the fifth level of the NHEQF represented learning outcomes appropriate to the first year or first two semesters of UG courses, while the tenth level represents learning outcomes appropriate to the doctoral-level programme of study.
The draft has also mentioned the number of credits required for students to clear the mentioned different levels of the four-year undergraduate programme, master’s degrees, and doctoral degrees.
“Successful completion of the 4-year (eight semesters) undergraduate programme involving 160 credit-hours, with 40 credits at level 5, 40 credits at level 6, 40 credits at level 7, and 40 credits at level 8 on the NHEQF,” stated the draft.
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This means that someone who wants to exit the UG programme with a certificate will have to have 40 credits, while someone who wants to exit with a diploma after two years will require 80 credits and someone who wants to get a degree after three years will have to get 120 credits. Further candidates pursuing to get a degree with honours/research after four years will have to get 160 credits. The draft says that one credit is equal to an hour of teaching (lecture or tutorial) or two hours of practical work/fieldwork per week.
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