Over the past year, the digital push in India has been strong. To recover from learning losses, create affordable education and accessibility, India has taken many steps towards digitisation, including the latest step to finally launch the long-awaited digital university.

The National Digital University (NDU) of India was a part of the National Education Policy (NEP) drafted in 2020 and a part of the budget allocation in 2022. The Ministry of Education has plans to begin operations of the NDU in the next academic year 2023-24. It will offer diploma, certificate and degree courses.

According to media reports, students will have the option to earn upto 50 per cent credits from different higher education institutes (HEIs) associated with NDU and earn a degree from the university.  Following NDU’s criteria, both private and government institutes will be allowed to offer their programmes through its portal.

The Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds (SWAYAM) platform will design the coursework for the university, alongwith the HEIs that already provide online content.

Students can register for individual online courses to the affiliated HEIs through the NDU portal or they can opt to register with NDU and earn credits from various HEIs that will be collected in their Academic Bank of Credit (ABC). 

Adding to its flexibility, NDU will also offer multiple exit/entry options.

This launch is one of two major developments in higher education this year for the country. The second is the establishment of the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI). Both working towards meeting India’s goal of achieving a 50 per cent gross enrolment ratio (GER) by 2030, as outlined in NEP 2020.