Chennai: To strengthen existing Swayam online courses and to identify areas to offer new courses, University Grants Commission (UGC) is conducting the demand-based mapping exercise for the upcoming July 2026 semester. It asked all the universities to examine the university curriculum against the list of available Swayam courses and provide inputs on the existing gaps. “This exercise will enable effective planning and facilitate the offering of courses that are best aligned with the specific requirements of universities,” UGC said in a circular to all universities on Monday. The universities were asked to give details such as mapping the Swayam course with the university curriculum, credit requirements, choice of language suitable for the Swayam course, and courses required but not available on Swayam. These details should be given before March 10. As of now, the portal offers more than 18,000 courses prepared by more than 1,000 faculty members from across the country. Recently, UGC allowed educational institutions to prescribe up to 40% of courses online to students. City colleges said the Swayam portal needs to have more online courses in emerging areas. “Online courses are part of our syllabus. We encourage students to take online courses. As of now, there are some gaps, including in language courses and some emerging areas such as blockchain and data science,” said Lilian Jasper, principal of Women’s Christian College. Some colleges said the online course schedule and assessments were not aligned with their academic schedule. “The online courses should aim to address the gaps in the curriculum and in industry needs. As of now, many courses are focused on disseminating knowledge in that domain,” another principal of a city college said. “This mapping exercise will help the UGC address the existing gaps in the online courses and make them more relevant to colleges and universities,” said P Duraisamy, former vice-chancellor of the University of Madras.
