Prof. (Dr.) Divya Tanwar
Prof. (Adj) Somaiya Vidya Vihar University,Mumbai.Chairperson, Divey Foundation, New Delhi.Board of Directors of Centre for NAMO Studies,(CNMS) New Delhi.
The Ministry of Education, Govt. of India has established ABC for “Enabling Students Mobility across Institutions of Higher Education in India.” “Academic Bank of Credits” means an academic service mechanism as a digital/virtual/online entity established by University Grants Commission to facilitate students to become its academic accounts holder, thereby paving the way for seamless students mobility between or within degree granting HEIs (Higher Education Institution) through a formal systems of credit recognition, credit accumulation, credit transfer and credit redemption to promote distributed and flexible teaching learning. Its objective is to promote student centricity with learner-friendly approaches in higher education across India. It helps in seamless integration of skills and experiences into a Credit Based System.
Credit means the Standard Methodology of Calculating one hour of theory or one hour of tutorial or two hours of laboratory work, per week for a duration of a semester (30-15 weeks) resulting in the award of one credit, which is awarded by a higher educational institution. Credits for internship shall be one credit per one week of internship, subject to a maximum of six credits.
Academic Bank of Credits has been established on the lines of the National Academic Depository (NAD), in the sense, NAD is the backbone of ABC, where the students’ academic data are held and academic awards are stored (i.e. storehouse of academic awards). Despite the fact that ABC enables students to register or commence credit transfer, the final outcomes of credit redemption and issuance of certificates, as well as the compilation of award records, are administered by academic institutions via the NAD Platform. Hence being the owner of academic awards, Academic Institutions must mandatorily register themselves under ABC via NAD. ABC is a facility for credit accumulation transfer and redemption. Degree / Diploma / Certificate shall be awarded by the registered HEIs.
ABC is a bank for academic purposes on the pattern of commercial banks for financial purposes with students as academic account holders to whom ABC shall provide a variety of services including credit verification, credit accumulation, credit transfer or redemption and authentication of academic awards. Credits deposited in the ABC platform will be valid for a maximum of seven years or the duration specified for a given discipline. Students will have their own accounts, each with their own ABC ID, as well as a dashboard where they can track their credit accumulation, transfer requests, and credit history. Students can also perform credit transfer initiation requests and a follow-up view request status effectively, just like in a traditional bank. In a nutshell, the ABC will make it easier to recognise, transfer, and redeem credits. Students can register by logging in at www.abc.gov.in. In addition, a complete user manual with step-by-step instructions and screenshots can be seen in the ABC portal’s Resources section.
“Credits-recognition” means the credits earned through a registered Higher Educational Institution and transferred directly to the ABC by such HEIs.
“Credit-accumulation” means the facility created by ABC in the Academic Bank Account opened by students in order to transfer and consolidate the credits earned by them by undergoing courses.
“Credit-transfer” means the mechanism by which registered HEIs are able to receive or provide prescribed credits to individual Academic Bank Accounts in adherence to the UGC credit norms for the course undertaken by students enrolled in any registered HEIs within India.
“Credit-redemption” means the process of commuting the accrued credits in the Academic Bank Accounts of the students maintained in ABC for the purpose of fulfilling the credits requirements for the award of Degrees or Diplomas or Certificates or course work for Ph.D. programmes etc. by the registered degree awarding HEIs.
How does it work?
Credits obtained by undertaking courses in Registered HEIs during or after the academic year 2021-2022 alone are eligible for Credit Transfer, Credit Accrual and Credit Redemption through academic bank of credits.
Somaiya Vidyavihar University is one of earliest to Register & Get Recognised by ABC under UGC from August 2021. We are the first Private University to enlist 10 Constituent Colleges, 37 Departments, 171 Programs, 183 Areas of Specializations. Till date 1324 records have been created and 5000+ Student Accounts created, nearly 75% Students Accounts have been created. Remaining students account creation will be done within a few weeks which will lead to 100% student account compliance. Registrar of the university is the nodal officer for Academic Bank of Credits. ABC is definitely a significant step in providing better student mobility and standardization of education. This will definitely improve the quality of our higher education and its acceptance at international platforms.
