National Conference for Awareness on National Academic Depository Inaugurated

NEW DELHI:
A National Conference for awareness on National Academic Depository was inaugurated by Prakash Javadekar, Minister for Human Resource Development in New Delhi.
Establishment of a National Academic Depository is a step towards the Digital India vision of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said the Union Minister for Human Resource Development. The Union Minister called upon all participants to resolve to target year 2017 to ro11 out use of National Academic Depository. He further added, we are witnessing change here; way of life is changed due to technology. He further stated that technology has become all pervasive in all walks of life, whether it is shopping, booking railways ticket, banking or mobile recharge; we have witnessed a huge transformation in the way we used to function.
The Minister stated that the securities depositories in the country have already made dematerialization of the financial securities and have been ensuring the safety of the financial wealth of the investors. This system can now be replicated for the educational awards. It is high time the academic awards are verified and authenticated, accessed and retrieved in a digital depository. He encouraged the institutions present to change the rnindset by welcoming technology in the form of NAD and make it arcality. Union Minister emphasised upon 3 things, change in mindset, absorbing ‘tried, tested and trusted technology’ and thus enhancing transparency and authenticity.
The Government of India is committed towards bringing administrative and academic reforms through the use of technology for delivery of efficient services to all stakeholders. Towards this end, Government intends to establish a digital depository of academic awards to be known as National Academic Depository NAD) on the pattern of securities depository.
The NAD would help in validating the authenticity of these awards and ensuring their safe storage and easy retrieval. Maintaining academic awards in a iligital’depository would provide benefit to educational institutions, students and employers by enabling online access and retrieval; eliminate fraudulent practices such as forging of certificates and mark-sheets and facilitate validation. NAD would be available online 24X7 access to the stakeholders.
Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey, MOS (HRD) echoed the views of Hon’ble HRM and added that now even the poorest of the poor are able to seek access to higher education, thereby increasing the number of individuals seeking educational certificates. The need for such a measure as NAD is well established. The initiative, he stated, will be a footprint into a new era of 21st century.
Speaking on the occasion, Secretary (Higher Education), MHRD, Vinay Sheel Oberoi, said that the c
ardinal principle in the NAD system is for any award to be made available to any person other than student, only with the explicit consent of the student. He also requested all the academic institutions to get on board quickly and requested the participants to disseminate the experience with others involved in the process.
A presentation on NAD model was made by the depositories, wherein they explained the role of various stakeholders viz. Academic Institutions (AIs), students and verifiers and the depositories. A live demo of uploading and lodging the academic awards on the NAD system was also made by the depositories. This was followed by Question & Answer session wherein the various queries/clarifications raised by the participants were addressed.
Joint Secretary (Higher Education), MHRD, requested representatives from various Central higher educational institutions and State public universities participated, to engage actively in the presentations and live demos that followed. A series of training workshops are being organised, region-wise. The event ended with the vote of thanks to the participant academic institutions.