Lok Sabha Question No. 3191 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-12-31
Subject: Courses under Swayam Platform
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: SUDHEER GUPTA, ASHOK SHANKARRAO CHAVAN, VIJAY KUMAR S.R., KUNWAR HARIBANSH SINGH, S. RAJENDRAN

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION

LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3191 TO BE ANSWERED ON 31.12.2018

## Courses under SWAYAM Platform

3191. SHRISUDHEER GUPTA:

SHRIASHOK SHANKARRAO CHAVAN: SHRIS. R. VIJAYAKUMAR: SHRIKUNWAR HARIBANSH SINGH: SHRIS. RAJENDRAN:

Will the Minister of HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) the number of Universities which have come on board in accepting credit transfer for courses done through SWAYAM Platform;

(b) the number of courses offered under SWAYAM during the current academic year;

(c) the number of students who have registered under SWAYAM during the current academic year; and

- (d) the steps taken/being taken by the Government to provide best quality education to students via online platform?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

## (DR. SATYA PAL SINGH)

(a) to (d) The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD)has embarked on a major and new initiative called 'Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds'  (SWAYAM),  which  provides  one  integrated  platform  and  MOOCs  (Massive Open Online Courses) portal for online courses, using Information and Communication  Technology  (ICT)  and  covering  all  higher  education  subjects  and skill  sector  courses.  Till  date,  more  than  39  Lakhs  learners  have  been  enrolled  in more than 1600+ MOOCs courses that have been run through SWAYAM. 60,000 persons have completed the courses. Credit transfer facility up to 20% is enabled through the notification issued by UGC/AICTE- 'Credit Framework for online learning courses through SWAYAM Regulation 2016'. It is the endeavor of MHRD to align the courses on the SWAYAM portal with the curriculum of Universities.

All  the  courses are interactive, prepared by the best teachers in the country and  are  available,  free  of  cost.  More  than  1,000  specially  chosen  faculty  and teachers from across the Country have participated in preparing these courses. In order  to  ensure  best  quality  content  are  produced  and  delivered,  9  National Coordinators have been appointed: They are, University Grants Commission (UGC) for Post-Graduation Education, Consortium for Education Communication (CEC) for Under-Graduate Education, NPTEL Consortium of 7 Indian Institutes of Technologies  &  Indian  Institute  of  Science  for  Engineering,  National  Council  for Education  Research  &  Training  (NCERT)  &  National  Institute  for  Open  Schooling (NIOS) for School Education, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU)for out of  the  School  Students,    Indian  Institute  of  Management  (IIM)  Bangalore  for Management Studies , National Institute for Technical Teachers' Training ( NITTTR) for teachers training program and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) for  ARPIT  Courses  (Annual  Refresher  Programme  in  Teaching),  Self-paced  & Courses by Foreign Universities.

The  Faculty  Development  Programmes  (FDP)  is  also  being  developed through SWAYAM. Fifteen lakh untrained teachers are getting trained under DElEd programme  of  NIOS  delivered  through  SWAYAM.  The  Government  has  launched Annual Refresher Programme in Teaching (ARPIT), a major and unique initiative of online  professional  development  of  15  lakh  higher  education  faculty  using  the MOOCs platform of SWAYAM. 92  Universities  have  come  forward  in  accepting  credit  transfer  for  courses done through SWAYAM Platform. The number of courses offered under SWAYAM during  the  current  academic  yearis  1082  courses.  The  number  of  users  including students, teachers, professionals, sr. citizens, housewives etc.who have registered for  various  courses  under  SWAYAM are 25,57,118 andthe registrations during the current academic year are 4,36,431. The Online Courses delivered on SWAYAM, are going to reduce the digital divide.  It  shall,  turn  out  to  be  a  disruptive  technology  and  change  the  present business model of higher education. Since the MOOCs on SWAYAM is integrated with  conventional  education,  it  shall  bring-in  tremendous  learning  opportunity  in coming days and shall prove to be a game changer in the education sector.