Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Consortium for Educational Communication (CEC) director Jagat Bhushan Nadda here on Tuesday said that students enrolled for massive open online courses (MOOCs) can write their exams in offline mode at university level.
“As of now, the National Test Agency holds exams of MOOCs and other online courses in a computer-based mode. Come July, the students enrolled for MOOCs and other digital courses can now take exams in pen-and-paper format at the university level also,” he told reporters.
Nadda said that around 60 lakh students enrolled for MOOCs and other online courses but around 15 to 20 lakh students only register with NTA for exams.
“The students generally feel comfortable with pen-and-paper format of exams whereas NTA holds exams in computer-based mode. It’s for the reason that we have asked the university and autonomous college to hold exams for MOCC students as well,” he stated.
While NTA charges around Rs 600 per paper, the university will conduct exams for MOCC courses for free.
Nadda stated that the central government has set a target to take the gross enrolment ratio (GER) from existing 27 per cent to 50 per cent by 2035.
“There are roughly 1,200 universities and 45,000 colleges in the country. To double the GER, the government will have to ensure that the universities and colleges also double in the next 11 years, which is impossible to do. Hence, digital education is the only way forward,” he said.
Dubbing it “an achievement”, Nadda said that 208 courses under Swayam scheme have been developed in the last two years.
Documentary films to be released on OTT soon
Claiming that the quality of documentary films made by institutions under CEC is of international standards, Nadda said that they have been planning to release the films on the OTT platform.
“I can’t give you any time frame but in principal, it has been decided that our documentary films will be released on the OTT platform,” he added.
Process to set up Digital University on fast track
Nadda said that the process to set up Digital University is on the fast track. “Only after the digital university is set up up degree courses in digital mode could be offered. “We have designed the syllabus for digital degree courses in eight streams. The work is on for developing e-content in nine more courses. Once that happens, the launch of the digital university will be just a foot away,” he added.
