Union Budget 2022-23: Digital university for world-class education on the cards

The central government will set up a digital university to impart “world-class quality education” and promote online learning in different Indian languages amid the Covid-19 pandemic, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her Budget speech in Parliament on Tuesday.

“A digital university will be established to provide access to students across the country for world-class quality universal education with personalised learning experience at their doorsteps,” the finance minister said. “The best public universities and institutions in the country will collaborate (in the digital university) as a network of hub-spoke.”

To address “learning loss” due to school closures, the government will also expand the One Class One TV Channel initiative under the PM e-Vidya scheme.

The proposed digital university and the expanded TV education programme will lead to “a modern, pioneering and practical blueprint for steering India in the Amrit Kaal,” education minister Dharmendra Pradhan said. “The universalized quality education will gain strength with these initiatives.”

The proposal to establish a digital university is a welcome move, said Jagadesh Kumar, vice-chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University.

“Such a digital university will be particularly of great help to students coming from the economically poor, marginalised and rural backgrounds,” Kumar said. “Since this university will be based on a networked hub-spoke model, it can develop student-friendly digital platforms and digital content using modern technologies. The digital university can collaborate with the best universities in India and abroad to provide personalised anytime, anywhere education to students in India and across the globe.”