Improvements in Higher Education –VII

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Credit System of Education

Human knowledge has grown exponentially over the last century. The traditional system of education in which students earned a degree after completing a prescribed number of courses over a certain number of years is inadequate to cope with the growth of knowledge and activity of the modern world. As a measure to cope with this increase of knowledge and a diversity of requirements, the credit system of education was invented more than a century ago. In this system each individual course is assigned a certain number of credits based on the workload. Approximately a course consisting of one hour per week of lecture load spread over a semester is a one-credit course. A degree is earned when a students completes a certain number of credits. Certain courses are prescribed as core or compulsory courses (about half the courses for some degrees) whereas the student is free to select the other courses depending upon his interests and aptitude subject to the approval of a course advisor. Thus a student working to earn a degree in physics may be required to do half the courses in physics and the other half could be additional courses in physics or engineering or mathematics etc. Each student would then graduate with different skills as is required by a diverse industry. By choosing courses in areas of his interest the student performance improves.

If one were to compare the graduates of a credit based system of education to tailor made suits, the graduates of the older outdated system that prescribes the same courses for all students of a degree program are like factory made suits that come in only one medium size. The credit-based system of education also makes inter university transfer of students easier. It permits students to enroll in another university or college for a summer semester or even longer if required. This system is more than a hundred years old and because of its advantages has been adopted throughout North America, Europe and other progressive countries. It is time that India moved on to this system. It is unfortunate that it has not done so already except in a few universities. India must move on to this system of education with the greatest of urgency in order to effect a substantial improvement

It may be mentioned that if properly implemented the credit-based system of education simplifies the management of education within a university. The use of computers makes the implementation of the system very simple. However if the system is implemented improperly it can create confusion and disorder within a university. It may be mentioned that some such confusion prevails even in leading institutions like the IIT’s where this author has been a faculty member. A proper implementation of the system requires the design of fixed teaching slots, design of courses to fit the slots and a system of registration and re-registration. Re-registration is required when the request of a student for a particular course cannot be entertained due to too few or too many students opting for a particular course.

Some more essential details of the credit system as well as other essential aspects of university education can be found in the book “ Fundamentals of Excellence in Universities” by this author that is available on the Internet at,


This author is willing to guide any university if called to do so towards implementing this system of education. It may be mentioned that the credit based system can work well in affiliated colleges as well with different colleges choosing different courses depending upon the specializations of available faculty members. Thus every college affiliated to a particular university need not produce graduates with identical skills. This will no doubt also improve the employability of students and lessen faculty shortages. Faculty shortages are created partly because too many faculty members with identical qualifications are required within a country.

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