UGC chairman bats for semester system in higher education institutions

'We want continuous assessment of students in higher education institutions. If you conduct exams just once a year, students do not get feedback to improve their learning process. Therefore, the semester system has been adopted globally,' UGC chairman M Jagadesh Kumar told reporters.

Indore: University Grants Commission (UGC) chairman M Jagadesh Kumar said on Monday that higher education institutions should adopt the semester system instead of holding annual examinations for better evaluation of students and improving their learning process.

Considering the student learning process, Indian universities should adopt the semester system if their students were still being evaluated through the annual examination system, he said.

"We want continuous assessment of students in higher education institutions. If you conduct exams just once a year, students do not get feedback to improve their learning process. Therefore, the semester system has been adopted globally," Kumar told reporters in Indore.

Students should also evaluated on the parameters such as examinations held between semesters, different exercises, participation in discussions, and homework assignments, he added.

The UGC chairman said at least 6,300 colleges and universities will benefit from the "One Nation, One Subscription" scheme, which he believes will strengthen the research structure in higher education institutions.

The Union cabinet recently approved the "One Nation, One Subscription" scheme to provide nationwide access to scholarly research articles and journal publications.

Kumar participated in the regional conference of autonomous colleges organised by UGC and Indore's Devi Ahilya University on the topic of "Implementation of New National Education Policy".

The UGC chairman further said the new National Education Policy will promote social justice, equality, and employment in the country as per the basic spirit of the Constitution.

He also stressed greater autonomy in higher education institutions.

"We have been saying since the introduction of the National Education Policy 2020 that we will not micromanage everything. We are just giving you (higher education institutions) a broad framework so that changes can be made in higher education by experiments and innovations within it," Kumar added.

He said many universities and colleges have witnessed various changes in the last four years and added that the UGC aims to increase India's gross enrolment ratio to 50 per cent by 2035.

When asked about some states not adopting the new Education Policy yet due to purported political reasons, the UGC chairman said, "I am not saying they (some states) are not implementing NEP 2020. They are lagging in implementing NEP 2020, but we are working with them. We are persuading and motivating them to implement NEP 2020."