In an attempt to promote e-learning in universities across the country, the ministry of human resource development (MHRD) plans to connect all 419 universities through the National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT) by the end of September.
Till now, 376 such varsities have been connected for the mission which has two components- content generation and connectivity- and aims to use Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for providing access and quality higher education to students all over India. Under this mission, 419 universities, over 20,000 colleges including 2,000 polytechnics will be provided broadband connectivity. In fact, a budget allocation of R502 crore was made in 2008-09 for the mission.
As per MHRD, of all the connected universities, 44 are in Tamil Nadu, followed by 38 in Uttar Pradesh, 30 in Andhra Pradesh and 29 in Karnataka.
“The mission would provide high quality e-content, free of cost to all the learners in the country. We hope that by September, all universities will be connected,? said an MHRD official.
The connected universities will be encouraged to do research in edutainment, internet protocol television digital library for e-books and e-journals and evaluation and systems. The educational institutions are connected through MPLS-VPN (multi protocol label switching – virtual private network) in which hundred premier institutes and universities are connected via 1 gbps access links. All the other 18,000 educational institutions and colleges would be connected through 10 mbps access links. Moreover, the mission also entails offering 10 Direct to Home channels for continuous broadcast of video content. NMEICT provides e-books and e-journals and converts existing educational tapes into indexed formats compliant with accepted standards.
The connectivity structure in the NMEICT is complementary and supplementary to National Knowledge Network, which was suggested by Sam Pitroda and the ministry plans to enhance the enrollment rate in higher education from 10% at present to 15 % by the end of the Eleventh Plan period through this.
