After the first year of a UG degree, a certificate will be awarded. On completion of the second year, a diploma will be awarded while the three-year programme completion will lead to a Bachelor’s Degree.
Imagine this situation. A student realises that he/she does not have the aptitude/interest in the engineering course they have enrolled into. Leaving midway would mean that they lose an entire year, including fees and academics. So, what is the alternative?
Rather than dropping out of the course, this student can now store credits earned in the year into an ‘Academic Bank’, and join any other programme within seven years.
Lateral entry and exit from higher educational programmes was a long-standing demand in India. As part of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the government has now allowed this formally.
The NEP 2020 completed one year on July 29. On the occasion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Academic Bank of Credit (ABC) that will facilitate multiple entry/exit into courses.
To enable this, the University Grants Commission (Establishment and Operation of Academic Bank Of Credits in Higher Education) Regulations, 2021, have been notified. These guidelines will govern the entry and exit into all universities (including deemed-to-be category) and autonomous colleges
This will be applicable from the academic year 2021-22. So credits earned from this year onwards can be stored digitally.
Here is a look at how the new ABC system will work:
What is the credit system in college education?
The regulations state ‘credit’ means the standard methodology for calculating one hour of theory or one hour of tutorial or two hours of laboratory work per week for a semester (13-15 weeks).
This leads to the award of one credit by the educational institution. In addition, credits for internship will be one per week of internship, subject to a maximum of six credits. These credits are stored digitally using DigiLocker.
Where will these credits be stored?
The credits will be stored in an ABC or Academic Bank Account. This is similar to a regular savings bank account which an individual student can operate.
Once this account is opened, all academic credits will be deposited into it. These credits will be required to award degrees, diplomas or certificates on completion of an academic course. Each student can store these credits for a maximum of seven years.
