With an aim to foster growth and skill advancement, the University Grants Commission (UGC) unveiled its Annual Capacity Building Plan (ACBP) today. With this move, the commission stands out as the first autonomous organisation to proactively engage in capacity-building planning for its employees, collaborating with the Capacity Building Commission (CBC).
The primary objective of the plan is to enhance the abilities, talents, competencies, efficiency, and qualifications of UGC employees. It will also ultimately help bolster their capacity to contribute effectively to the higher education system in India.
Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar, chairman, UGC, officially inaugurated the plan today, January 1, 2024. Dr R Balasubramanium, member-HR, Capacity Building Commission, was also present at the launch.
The ACBP focuses on training UGC employees in four key areas, including behavioural competencies, functional competencies, domain competencies, training in newer technology competencies.
Under the behavioral competencies, the staff will be empowered with the ability to take on larger roles beyond their usual responsibilities. The functional competencies will help improve UGC staff performance in administration, procurement, and financial management. The domain competencies will help the staff strengthen their expertise in specialised fields such as policy-making or project management, and training in newer technology competencies will enable employees to reduce turnaround time, enhance efficiency, maintain digital records effectively, and utilise technology platforms to engage with stakeholders.
In the year 2023, over 600 UGC employees were onboarded on the iGot Karmayogi platform. In the first quarter (October to December 2023), 630 UGC employees successfully completed more than 4500 courses, averaging seven courses per employee, according to UGC notifications.
Additionally, in the previous year, UGC organised various offline/face-to-face training programmes covering topics such as Reservation in Services, Introduction to Emerging Technologies using AI, Overview of Data-Driven Decision Making (DDDM) using Higher Education data, and relevant use cases, PFMS Awareness of General Financial Rules, Contract Management and Purchase of Services, RTI.
The organisation plans to continue these initiatives to strengthen the capacity of its employees, aligning with the government’s Mission Karmayogi for the skill enhancement of government employees.