NEW DELHi: Universities will soon be able to conduct examinations for students enrolled in SWAYAM courses in alignment with their regular academic calendar, sources at the UGC said on Tuesday.
“This announcement will be part of the framework that the University Grant Commission will introduce in the coming days,” they said.
The framework is aimed at increasing student participation in SWAYAM (Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds) courses for credit accumulation. SWAYAM is an online platform through which students can take online courses from leading Higher Education institutions to fulfil credit requirements for their university’s academic programmes. Currently, the end-term proctored examinations for all the SWAYAM-based credit courses are conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) and the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) in their designated centres across the country.
“To encourage more students to earn credits through SWAYAM Courses and provide re-attempt opportunities to students, it has been decided in the 24thSWAYAM Board meeting held on March 5, 2024, that Universities who have adopted UGC SWAYAM Regulations 2021 will be permitted to conduct examinations of the SWAYAM courses for their students who enrolled and completed Courses from the SWAYAM Platform,” an UGC official in know of development told ANI.
Students who have completed courses on SWAYAM will now have the option of writing their SWAYAM examination at their university, the official explained. This step will “increase the number of students taking SWAYAM Courses for credit accumulation and will enhance student flexibility with respect to SWAYAM Examination,” the official said.
The universities will be required to appoint a Nodal Officer to coordinate with the SWAYAM Technical team in matters related to SWAYAM courses, including registration and credit transfer. For conducting the end-term examination, the Universities will be responsible for setting the question papers, evaluation of answer scripts and declaration of examination results.
“The University will ensure that students who have completed the entire SWAYAM course and submitted a minimum of 75 per cent of the assignments and quizzes on SWAYAM shall only be allowed to appear for the end-term examination conducted by the University. The Nodal Officer shall verify this from the SWAYAM Admin dashboard,” the official said.
The universities will give 70 per cent weightage to end-term examinations. “For the assignments and quizzes component conducted by the SWAYAM Course Coordinator, the weightage will be 30% and shall be available on the SWAYAM portal,” the official said.
Listing the responsibilities of the nodal officer, the UGC official said The University Nodal Officer will be responsible for obtaining login credentials from the SWAYAM Technical Team and registering on the SWAYAM portal to access and monitor student details and progress. He will oversee students’ internal assignments and quiz marks on the SWAYAM Portal, preparing a list of those eligible for the university exam.
“The officer will conduct the end-term examination and upload the marks on the SWAYAM portal and will ensure that all students’ marks from the SWAYAM Examination are mapped with their Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry (APAAR) ID and are visible to the students using their login credentials, the official said. “Additionally, the officer will prepare a list of students who could not pass or appear in the end-term examination and organize the exam for these students in the subsequent semester as per the outlined Framework,” the official added. (ANI)