Vineet Gupta Co-Founder Ashoka University states – National Credit Framework can prove to be cornerstone to provide students with exciting degree options

The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 intends to restructure and revive India’s education system in order to better satisfy the requirements of students and employers. The National Credit Framework (NCrF) is an important part of the new policy since it tries to systematize the credit system across various educational institutions and programmes. Vineet Gupta Ashoka University Founder states, “The national credit framework is critical to ensure that the education and training system is capable of responding to the demands of the industry by providing opportunity to students to move across institutions and hence upgrade their knowledge and skills. It facilitates the transfer of credits across institutions and aids in the mobility of students; also helping align curriculum of educational institutions.”

As the national credit system allows for credit transfer between universities and programmes, it can minimize the time and expense of achieving a degree or certification, and students don’t  have to redo courses that they previously completed at another institution. NCrF can assist in coordinating educational initiatives with what industry demands. It can help in making education more pertinent and beneficial to students by assuring that credits acquired at various institutions are recognized and acknowledged by employers. As a result, students will be more inclined to pursue programmes that can lead to successful employment.

NCrF proposed under NEP can encourage the development of innovative, cutting-edge educational programmes in addition to enabling credit transfer and coordinating educational programmes with employment demands. The institutions can be motivated to develop new programmes that fulfill the requirements by setting proper guidelines for the recognition of credits.

“NCrF can prove to be a extremely beneficial to the higher education eco-system. Institutions will be forced to develop curriculum which is more modular and allows students multiple exit and entry options. This also puts pressure on institutions to excel and innovate. Students will benefit since it will allow them to have an opportunity to focus both on gaining knowledge and developing the skills necessary for future professional employment. Moreover the credit structure also prioritizes vocational education, co-curricular and extracurricular activities, on-the-job training, apprenticeships and internships,” shares Vineet Gupta.

NEP advocates a multidisciplinary approach and allows for multiple entry and exit points to provide students with additional options. This will go a long way toward creating a positive experience for students as they plan and prepare their educational journey.

“We at Ashoka value education that is multi-disciplinary and holistic with flexible curriculum, innovative courses and the option for students to exit after three years. Infact a lot of provisions of NEP were already being implemented at Ashoka. The adoption of NCrF will enable greater collaboration amongst Indian institutions and provides students many options which they may not have imagined before. I can imagine that students can now do two years of Liberal Arts and three years of Engineering for example. These are exciting times for higher education in India and I look forward to seeing how institutions responds to these opportunities,” highlights Vineet Gupta, Ashoka University Founder.