National Digital University:Promises and challenges

The buzz around India’s first National Digital University (NDU) is getting louder, closer to its implementation deadline. In the 2022-23 budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Seetharaman spoke on its benefits, and UGC Chairman Jagadeesh Kumar, echoing similar sentiments, was confident about its operationalisation from July 2023.

What is NDU?

Among several educational reforms envisioned in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, establishing a digital university to provide students with a “world-class universal education with personalised experiences at their doorsteps” is crucial. This initiative is claimed to facilitate the realisation of access, equity, and quality, which are NEP’s thrust areas.

The digital university, the finance minister had stated, will be built on a ‘hub-spoke’ model. The hub is the central unit of the university, in this case, SWAYAM, which stands for Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds, a web platform launched by the Union Education Ministry in 2017. All partner colleges and universities offering digital content for the courses will form the spokes in the model.

What it promises

Under this model, any student who has cleared the Class 12 exam can apply regardless of their scores. With no restrictions on the number of seats for every subject, students can register for multiple courses offered by one or many public/private partner universities. They are allowed the freedom to design their programme/curriculum. If 50% of credits earned for a programme are from one institution, the degree will be awarded by the same institution. If not, on reaching the credit threshold, the digital university will award the certificate, diploma, or degree, as the case may be. Also, the digital university promises access to affordable education in mother tongues in various courses.

SWAYAM’s track record

As the success of this initiative largely rests on the ‘hub,’ which is SWAYAM, assessing its efficiency based on its current performance becomes necessary. Since its launch in 2017, the results have been disheartening on three major fronts: course completion rate, student satisfaction, and faculty contentment. Less than 4% of enrolled students have completed their courses. Complaints from students are manifold. They include insipid teaching by teachers with outdated course materials, allowing little room for student flexibility.

The experience of the teachers is no different. Often, they have cited the lack of infrastructure, inadequate training, measly compensation, and a cumbersome approval process as problems. Without sufficient training (not all are comfortable on camera), the digital classroom can kill the joy of learning. Given this backdrop, the challenges to the NDU are multifarious.

Challenges

Despite the official push for digital measures for various routine functions, the digital divide in India is quite real. The Covid pandemic exposed the innumerable difficulties students face during online classes. That online teaching is a failure was the supreme revelation. An internet connection is no guarantee for an uncomplicated full-time classroom engagement.

Besides, many questions about NDU remain unanswered. Is the online degree as good as a regular one? Will the employers treat them on par? The UGC, of course, has clarified that both types of degrees have equal weightage. The question then arises about the efficacy of regular-mode education, which prides itself in the countless benefits of face-to-face classroom discussions, on-campus peer interactions, and student-led /based activities.

Next, are students intellectually capable of designing their programmes right after school? Lately, regulatory bodies have emphasised the practice of outcome-based education, and the faculty spend many hours putting together the learning outcomes for the programmes and courses. They are conceived holistically for unity and cohesion, keeping specific larger objectives in mind. In fact, many institutions’ reputation rests on this factor.

When students select varied courses of their choice from multiple institutions, how does one evaluate if the learning outcomes of the courses/programme are met? Furthermore, the relationship between the job one aspires and the degree pursued is indestructible in India. Will this scheme open more avenues for students after graduation or create unnecessary hurdles?

Also, the UGC insists on a 1:15 teacher-student ratio for universities but allows unlimited seats in the online mode. With hundreds of students in one class, the quality of education imparted is hampered, and the finance minister’s claim of ‘personalised’ education sounds hollow.

In addition, this initiative is likely to widen the social inequalities further. According to Oxfam India 2022 report, only 4% of SC/ST students and 7% of OBC students have a computer with an internet facility. Hence, the claim that NDU will be an equaliser providing access to all sections’ educational aspirations and ensuring equity is dubious.

The intention to re-engineer India’s education system by augmenting the national Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) and student flexibility is welcome. However, unless the existing barriers are speedily removed, problems will persist. Providing better access to resources, rectifying poor connectivity in remote areas, devising methods to improve attention span in the virtual classroom, and eliminating the stigma attached to online/distance education could be the rudimentary steps for better academic engagement and meaningful outcomes.

(The writer is a professor and dean at CHRIST University, Bengaluru)