ABC ID mandatory for university admission from 2023, says UGC chairman; students face Aadhaar hurdle

NEW DELHI: From this academic year, it will be mandatory for all students to open an Academic Bank of Credit (ABC) account at abc.gov.in to get admission in universities across the country. While the process of generating ABC IDs is on, many students are facing difficulties in the Aadhaar verification process.

Taking stock of implementation of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 at a meeting on Tuesday, the University Grants Commission (UGC) chairman M Jagadesh Kumar urged vice chancellors of central universities to ensure 100 percent registration on the ABC platform from the upcoming academic year.

The ABC platform, a virtual database of credits, stores online the academic credits earned by each student individually. As mandated in NEP 2020, the initiative is meant to facilitate credit transfer of students, allowing them to move across streams and higher education institutions with ease.

While several VCs reported progress in students registration on abc.gov.in, many universities are facing delays due to Aadhar-related issues. Representatives of Central University of Kashmir, Central University of Karnataka, Guru Ghasidas University, Assam University, Central University of Gujarat, University of Allahabad among others flagged the same issue for slow progress in ABC student login generation. As per some of the university heads, the students are unable to register due to Aadhar not being linked to mobile phones.

Central University of Tamil Nadu, which started ABC registration in 2022-23 has been able to register 70 percent students on ABC platform and the rest 30 percent were delayed due to OTP issues, the VC shared during the meeting.

The ABC will be critical in the implementation of UGC’s other provisions like dual degree, joint degree, and twinning programmes. The UGC has asked universities to offer up to 40 per cent of the courses in any programme online on SWAYAM, the central government's Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) platform. The credit earned through such courses will be stored in the ABC.

Interacting with the VCs, Kumar sought a report on the issues and lag in enrollment of students in the ABC. “We are here to listen to any technical problems that universities are facing regarding ABC implementation. It is our aim to onboard all students in central universities in the ABC platform in the upcoming academic year. The students will have to have a unique ABC unique ID to get admission from this year onward,” said Kumar.

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Academic Bank of Credit website where students are facing Aadhar authentication issues (Image: Screenshot of ABC official website)

ABC ID and Aadhaar

On the ABC platform, Aadhar linking is required to authenticate a student’s identity. All students are required, as per UGC chairman, to update their mobile number with Aadhaar to generate the ABC ID, login and verify information. Many students facing problems have a parent’s phone number linked to their Aadhar card, creating problems with receiving and entering one-time passwords (OTP) during ABC registration.

Moreover, foreign students who do not hold a valid Aadhar identification number will also have to be registered on the ABC platform. Such students can apply for Aadhar after staying in India continuously for 182 days. However, the foreign national’s passport is not linked to the Aadhar UID. The UGC chairman said that the matter will be discussed internally.

Still in the development stage, the abc.gov.in is yet to have dedicated dashboards for some universities, causing the delay in registration of students. Central Sanskrit University, Delhi reported the issue, and it is yet to be resolved by the commission.

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NEP implementation: Central Universities

Presenting the progress made in implementing the NEP 2020, universities also reported the number of students with Academic Bank of Credit accounts. For instance, Maulana Azad National University has been able to register 2,440 students on the platform while English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) has registered 3,787 students. Delhi University, on the other hand, has registered 61,000 students and Jawaharlal Nehru University will begin the ABC registration process from March 2023.

A total of 5,077 students have received a unique ABC ID at Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University and almost 32,000 students have registered at Banaras Hindu University. Visva-Bharati University has registered 5,000 students on campus.

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Apart from the ABC registrations, the universities also reported alignment of programmes with Learning Outcome Curriculum Framework (LOCF) as mandated by the UGC guidelines. Most universities have also redesigned the undergraduate course to offer four-year undergraduate programmes with a research component in the last semester. Total 45 central universities that participated in the UGC meeting have also made provisions for multiple entry and multiple exit as per the UGC guidelines.

Some of the universities also reported challenges in starting a multidisciplinary system on campus due to shortage in resources. Mahatma Gandhi Central University, in the absence of a regular VC, has not made ordinance amendments required to start different departments. The MGCU representative also said the university lacks infrastructure and resources to start the programmes.