BHUBANESWAR : The National Education Policy (NEP)-2020 will be implemented in the State’s higher education sector from the current academic year.
The decision has been approved by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, who notified the CMO on Saturday. Under NEP-2020, a new curriculum will be introduced in all government universities and their affiliated colleges that come under the Higher Education department.
As per the new policy, in place of the regular three-year graduation, a four-year graduation course will be implemented under which, a student can earn a certificate, diploma, degree and degree honours after completion of each year in the 4-year programme.
Besides, as per University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines, a credit framework has been developed to provide credits to students who involve themselves in skill development and internship. Community service and extra-curricular activities, NCC and NSS will also help the students earn credits.
Officials said students will get the flexibility of completing their degree course in seven years because they will be provided the option of multiple entry and exit from their institution. Aiming at making the higher education sector qualitative, autonomous and inclusive, the NEP has been designed in a way to promote research and innovation through various schemes, practical-based learning and skill development through internships in industry.
New courses have been designed which are employment-oriented and tailored to meet industry needs, officials added. For this, two skill development courses, 112 multi-disciplinary courses, 14 vocational courses, 56 value-added courses and 84 skill development courses have been approved to be included in 40 undergraduate core subjects. A model syllabus has been prepared for these courses.For school education, the State government had recently reconstituted a task force for implementation of NEP.
The taskforce is under the chairmanship of DC-cum-ACS to suggest the measures to be taken up for implementation of the policy. It includes 13 ex-officio members and expert members as special invitees from organisations such as UNICEF.