TIRUCHI
The University Grants Commission’s Human Resource Development Centre of Bharathidasan University is poised to offer UGC-sponsored faculty induction programmes, refresher courses, short term courses and workshops online this academic year.
In an order issued on July 1, 2020, UGC instructed universities to switch over to online mode for conducting in-service training programmes for higher education teachers. The detailed standard operating procedure for the conduct of these programmes online explain that the trainings will have all the features of face-to-face programmes including evaluation of teachers learning outcomes through electronically proctored tests, assignments, quizzes and presentations.
G. Gopinath, Registrar said that the HRDC of Bharathidasan University was among 37 out of 66 HRDCs to get UGC’s allotment of courses this year. The university’s ICT infrastructure would enable the HRDC to conduct the online training programmes effectively and efficiently, Prof. Gopinath said.
Vice Chancellor P. Manisankar said that necessary ICT infrastructure for offering online courses to college and university teachers regularly in the post-Covid 19 scenario would be created with the ₹ 3.5 crore the university has received under Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) for establishing an exclusive academic and administrative building at Khajamalai Campus for the HRDC.
S. Senthilnathan, Director of the HRDC, said short-term courses will be offered initially and refresher courses and faculty induction programmes will be conducted in due course. The HRDC would also offer a few webinars on timely and vital themes like Online Teaching, Web Tools for Education, Digital Learning Initiatives of Government of India, and Use of Open Educational Resources in the current year.
Higher education teachers could make use of the lockdown period for their professional development and capacity building through such online programmes and courses of the HRDC, Prof. Senthilnathan said.