New Delhi: The University Grants Commission (UGC) has formulated the 'National Higher Education Qualification Framework (NHEQF)' under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 in a bid to facilitate transparency and comparability of Higher Education Qualification at all levels. A letter has been sent by Secretary UGC, Prof Manish Joshi to Vice Chancellors of all universities and principals of all the colleges.
In the letter, the Secretary UGC said that one of the important recommendations of National Education Policy 2020 is the formulation of the National Higher Education Qualifications Framework (NHEQF), to describe higher education qualifications leading to a degree/diploma/certificate in terms of teaming outcomes. University Grants Commission has formulated the "National Higher Education Qualifications Framework (NHEQF)" to facilitate transparency and comparability of higher education qualifications at all levels, he added.
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It can be recalled that the UGC had put the draft document of the NHEQF in public domain for feedback in Feb. last year. As per the draft document of NHEQF, the education has been divided into eight levels. While the first four levels deal with school education and covered under the National School Education Qualfication Framework (NSEQF), the next four cater to higher education.
The latter in particular constitute the NHEQF. As per the draft document of the UGD, the NHEQF is an “instrument for the development, classification, and recognition of qualifications along a continuum of levels from 4.5 to 8, with levels 1 to 4 in school education”. Level 4.5 of the NHEQF represents the Undergraduate Certificate (in the field of learning/discipline) for hose who exit after the first year (2 semesters) of the undergraduate programme.
Likewise, level 5 represents Undergraduate Diploma (in the field of learning/discipline) for those who exit after the first two years (4 semesters) of the undergraduate programme. The highest level 8 refers to the Doctoral degree with appropriate credits, thesis and published work.
