Page 557 - Compendium of UGC Regulations 1957-2023

Regulations pertaining to Credits, Academic Programmes and Award of Degrees:

2.8. “Higher Education Institutions” or “HEIs” means the institutions which are empowered
to award degrees by themselves or through their affiliating universities in accordance
with Section 22 of the UGC Act, 1956.
2.9. “Programme” or “Programme of study” means a higher education programme pursued
for a degree specified by the Commission under Section 22 (3) of the UGC Act.
2.10. “Registered HEI” means an eligible Higher Educational Institution which is registered
by the Academic Bank of Credits, under these Regulations.
2.11. “Statutory/Regulatory/Professional Standards Setting Body” means a body so
constituted by a Central Act for determining and maintaining standards in the relevant
areas of higher education.

2.12. “Statutory authority” means statutory bodies of higher educational institutions, such
as the Governing Council/ Executive Council/ Syndicate/ Board of Management/
Academic Council, competent to take decisions on behalf of the institution.

2.13. “Student” means a person admitted to, and pursuing, a specified credit-based course/
programme of study in a higher education institution.

3. Academic Bank of Credits (ABC)
3.1. ABC, shall be a national-level facility to promote flexibility of curriculum framework
and interdisciplinary/multidisciplinary academic mobility of students across Higher
Education Institutions in the country with appropriate “credit transfer” mechanism
created through these Regulations; and shall facilitate students to choose their own
learning path to attain a Degree/ Diploma/Post Graduate diploma or academic
qualification, working on the principle of ‘multiple entry-multiple exit’ as well as ‘any-
time’, ‘any-where’, and ‘any-level’ learning.
3.2. ABC shall enable the integration of multiple disciplines of higher learning, leading to
the desired learning outcomes including enhanced creativity, innovation, higher order
thinking and critical analysis.
3.3. ABC shall provide significant autonomy to students by providing extensive choice of
courses for a programme of study, flexibility in curriculum, novel and engaging course
options across a number of higher education disciplines/ institutions.
4. Objectives of ABC:
4.1. To promote student centricity with learner-friendly approaches in higher education
across the country and promote a more inter-disciplinary approach in higher education.
4.2. To enable students to select the best courses/combination of courses to suit their aptitude
and quest for knowledge.
4.3. To permit students to choose a pace for their studies along with the associated logistics
and costs.
4.4. To allow students to tailor their degrees or make specific modifications/specialisations
rather than undergoing the rigid, regularly prescribed degree/courses of a single
university/ autonomous college.
4.5. To enable multiple entry-multiple exit for students to complete their degrees as per their
time preferences, providing mobility across various disciplines and HEIs for Degree/
Diploma /PG Diploma/ Certificate programme/Course work for the Ph.D. programme.
4.6. To support, procedurally, the teaching-learning activities to happen in a distributed and
blended manner through integration across campuses/universities/autonomous colleges
with increased mobility.

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UGC Regulations