The Association of Indian Universities (AIU), an inter-university organisation that facilitates coordination between the government and Indian universities, is working on a credit mapping system that plans to devise a way to convert credits earned during a foreign degree into its Indian equivalent. The system will help Indian universities recognise foreign degrees and evaluate them in terms of earned credits instead of the number of years studied.

Currently, in absence of such a framework, a one-year master’s degree from a foreign university is not recognised in India. The new credit mapping system by the AIU seeks to address the problem.

Credit systems divide a student’s college education into units of awards achieved, depending on the number of hours a student has spent studying the course. For example, in the United States, a student usually needs 15 credits (3 credits per course) to pass a semester where one credit is equivalent to about 15-16 contact hours. A contact hour is the time spent by a student in the classroom or laboratory when they receive active instruction from the teacher.

Currently, credits in Indian universities are awarded based on the Choice Based Credit System that was launched in 2015. According to the CBCS, one credit means one hour each week for a 15-week semester or 15 hours during the course. Despite the CBCS’ similarity to the International credit systems, “a common benchmark needs to be developed for comparison of foreign academic degrees with that of India for granting equivalence,” said a report by the AIU committee, accessed by The Print.

After analysing the different credit systems of universities across the world, the committee recommended that different courses, be it bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD, which do not match the duration of such course in India could be considered for equivalence based on the minimum number of credits required in Indian universities. The committee added that if required, a 10 per cent relaxation in the minimum number of credits required for equivalence could be considered.

If this suggestion is implemented, the number of years may become irrelevant for equivalence. For example, if a one-year master’s degree from a foreign university meets the minimum required credits criteria, it could be considered equivalent to a two-year master’s degree from an Indian university.

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