With technology making lives hassle free, the University Grants Commission (UGC) is not far behind in making rapid progress in simplifying several processes using the available tools.
The UGC has now urged Universities to make extensive use of the National Academic Depository (NAD), which is an online storehouse for digitized academic awards (Degrees, Diplomas, Certificates, Mark-Sheets, etc.) stored by the academic institutions.
The National Academic Depository (NAD) was launched on July 9, 2017 and it is a 24x7 online mode facility for making available academic awards and validating their authenticity, safe storage and easy retrieval, UGC said in a letter to the Vice-Chancellors of all universities.
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Earlier, the Ministry of Education (MoE) had designated the University Grants Commission (UGC) as the authorized body to implement the National Academic Depository (NAD) as a permanent scheme without levying any user charges in coordination with ‘DigiLocker’ as a single depository of NAD.
It is pertinent to mention here that several academic institutions including various Universities, Central Higher Educational institutions, School Boards are uploading their academic awards on NAD through Digilocker-NAD platform.
Similarly, many are using NAD services through DigiLocker for accessing their academic awards online. Verification seeking entities are also using NAD services through DigiLocker for verification of academic awards.
Therefore, in a bid to enhance the reach of the NAD programme, the UGC has made suggestion of several measures to all academic institutions including Universities, IITs, NlTs/ IIITs/ IISERs, IIMs AIIMSs, NIPERs, NIDs, School Boards and eligible assessment bodies.
These proposals include:
-Register their Academic institutions on NAD through DigiLocker-NAD platform.
-Upload / Link their institution's academic award data with Digilocker-NAD. -Advise students to register on DigiLocker and access their awards.
-Create a hyperlink of NAD URL(https://nod.gov.in/ in their respective websites.
-Depute Nodal Officers and set up a NAD cell for implementation of NAD and reflect details on their websites.
-Create awareness about NAD among the student through Video/Audio/Poster of NAD on their social media platforms.