National Higher Education Qualifications Framework

Why in news?

• University Grants Commission (UGC) has finalized the National Higher Education Qualifications Framework (NHEQF) to standardize qualifications and promote academic mobility.
• However, the implementation of this framework has raised concerns due to the presence of multiple guidelines, and frameworks, leading to confusion among stakeholders.

About National Higher Education Qualifications Framework:

• Background:
  • The movement to specify frameworks for higher education qualifications gained momentum across the world in the late 1990s, but India remained without an NHEQF.
  • The idea was deliberated at the 60th meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education in 2012, which assigned the responsibility to the UGC.
• About NHEQF:
  • The UGC has formulated the NHEQF with the aim of facilitating transparency and comparability of higher education qualifications at all levels. The framework has been issued for all educational institutes to adopt.
  • The NHEQF is based on the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which envisages a new and forward-looking vision for India’s higher education system.

Main Features:

• The framework categorizes education into eight levels, with the first four being part of the National School Education Qualification Framework (NSEQF) and the latter four pertaining to higher education qualifications (level 4.5 to level 8), each with a corresponding level descriptor that specifies the learning outcomes, the volume of learning, and the qualification type and title.
• The NHEQF provides the guidelines for the development and implementation of programmes of study, such as the programme learning outcomes, the course learning outcomes, the curriculum design, the pedagogy, the assessment, and the feedback.
• The credit framework document of the UGC mandates that each semester must have a minimum of 20 credits.
• This document suggests that one credit must comprise 15 hours of direct and 30 hours of indirect teaching. This means that students are required to study for a minimum of 900 hours per semester or close to 10 hours a day.
• Qualification types are broad and discipline-independent, including certificates, diplomas, bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, and PhDs.
• The NHEQF also includes qualifications from technical and vocational education and professional and technical education programs, excluding medical and legal education, all within one framework.
• It will be applicable to all the modes of learning and ensure both comparability and transferability not only between institutions but also across different delivery modes.

Add ons

• It establishes the quality assurance mechanism such as the roles and responsibilities of the regulators, the higher education institutions, and the external agencies, as well as the processes and criteria for the approval, monitoring, and evaluation of programmes and qualifications.

PRACTICE QUESTION

Consider the following statements regarding ‘National Higher Education Qualifications Framework’:

1. NHEQF also incorporates the qualifications from technical and vocational education and training and professional and technical education programmes

2. It ensure both comparability and transferability not only between institutions but also across different delivery modes.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer