The University Grants Commission (UGC) on Thursday said over 23,000 higher education courses, including programs on artificial intelligence, cyber security and early childhood care, will now be available for free on a new web portal. The portal will be launched on Friday as part of the second anniversary of the National Education Policy-2020, which aims to bridge the digital divide and increase access to higher education in remote areas of the country.
CSC aims to provide digital access and e-governance services to citizens, especially those living in rural India, at their doorstep. Around 2.5 lakh CSCs and SPVs are functioning in Gram Panchayats and more than 5 lakh CSC-SPV centers are functioning across the country.
The UGC has asked the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to integrate e-resources with its over 7.5 lakh Common Service Centers (CSCs) and Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) centers to offer these courses from the coming academic year. has been approved. of 2025-26.
As part of its efforts to make higher education accessible to all, UGC is continuously working to provide students with digital resources in regional languages along with English, – said MJ Kumar, President, UGC.
CSCs and SPVs belong to the local communities and are managed and managed by entrepreneurs known as Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs). VLEs operate the centers to earn their livelihood by providing online services. These centers have computer and internet connectivity, – said Mr. Kumar.
It is like other government schemes like Ayushman Bharat Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana, E-Shram, PAN Card, Pradhan Mantri Sharm Yogi Maandhan Yojana (PMSYM), – said Mr. Kumar.
The courses include 23,000 postgraduate courses, 137 self-paced MOOC courses in emerging areas and 25 non-engineering self-paced courses. There is no charge for accessing these on the UGC portal. All courses are free. However, to avail the services and infrastructure of the CSC/SVP, a user has to pay a fee of Rs.20 or Rs.500/- per day to cover the efforts of the VLE and the cost of their infrastructure.
