Top 100 universities to be permitted to start online courses under PM e-VIDYA programme: UGC Chairman
Jun 11, 2020
By Amit Kumar
New Delhi [India], June 11 : University Grant Commission (UGC) Chairman Prof D P Singh said that top 100 universities of the country will be permitted to automatically start online courses under the 'PM e-VIDYA' programme as part of self-reliant India campaign.
In an exclusive interview with ANI, the UGC chairman told that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced e-Vidya programme to promote online education.
"We will soon bring out an integrated version of open and distance learning and online regulation after the approval of the Ministry of Human Resources and Development (MHRD). Under Atmanirbhar Bharat, top 100 Universities according to the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranking, will run online classes without prior approval of UGC for 20-21 session," he said.
"Under this PM e-Vidya programme, we will have more online universities and it will strengthen online education in the country," he added.
The government is expanding e-learning in higher education - by liberalising open, distance and online education regulatory framework.
"Top 100 universities will start online courses. Also, the online component in conventional Universities and ODL programmes will also be raised from the present 20 per cent to 40 per cent. This will provide enhanced learning opportunities to nearly 7 crore students across different colleges and Universities," read an MHRD release dated May 18.
Focusing on education in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic on May 17, Sitharaman has announced to launch a comprehensive initiative called PM e-VIDYA.
This programme will enable multi-mode access to education and includes DIKSHA (one nation-one digital platform), which will now become the nation's digital infrastructure for providing quality e-content in school education for all the states/UTs.
According to an official release, under this programme, a TV (one class-one channel) where one dedicated channel per grade for each of the classes 1 to 12 will provide access to quality educational material.
The government said that this programme will benefit nearly 25 crore school-going children across the country.
