Leadership for Academicians Program (LEAP) & Annual Refresher Programme (Important)

Ministry of HRD launched 2 new initiatives viz. Leadership for Academicians Programme (LEAP) & Annual Refresher Programme in Teaching (ARPIT) for higher education faculty. ARPIT is unique initiative of online professional development of 15 lakh higher education faculty.

LEAP Leadership
  • LEAP is 3 weeks flagship leadership development training programme for 2nd level academic functionaries in higher education institutions,

Leadership for Academicians Programme (LEAP)

  • It is 3 weeks (2 weeks domestic & 1 week foreign training) flagship leadership development training programme for 2nd level academic functionaries in public funded higher education institutions.
  • Its main objective is to prepare 2nd tier academic heads who are potentially likely to assume leadership roles in future.
  • It will make Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) perform their roles of developing better students who will be future torch bearers.
  • It will provide senior faculty required leadership & managerial skills including skills of problem-solving, team building work, handling stress, communication, conflict management, understanding complexity & challenges of governance in HEIs & general administration.
  • It will be implemented thru 15 National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF) top ranked Indian Institutions: IIT Bombay, IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Roorkee, IISER Kolkata, NIT Trichy, JNU; IIT (BHU) , Delhi University, TISS Mumbai, University of Hyderabad, NIEPA, Jamia Milia Islamia, BHU and AMU.
  • Foreign universities identified for training collaboration are w⟋I top 100 in world global rankings. It includes University of Michigan, Harvard University, Oxford University, University of Cambridge, Purdue University, University of Chicago, NTU Singapore, Monash University, University of Pennsylvania & University of Virginia.

Annual Refresher Programme in Teaching (ARPIT)

  • It is major & unique initiative of online professional development of 15 lakh higher education faculty using Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) platform SWAYAM.
  • Under it 75 discipline-specific institutions are identified & notified as National Resource Centres (NRCs) in phase I.
  • NRCs are located in mixed range of institutions such as, Central Universities, IISc, IUCAA, IITs, IISERs, NITs, State Universities under Ministry՚s Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya National Mission on Teachers & Teaching (PMMMNMTT) ; UGC՚s Human Resource Development Centres (HRDCs) , National Institutes for Technical Teachers Training (NITTTRs) , IIITs & IGNOU.
  • These institutions will be tasked to prepare online training material w⟋focus on latest developments in discipline, methodologies for transacting revised curriculum & pedagogical improvements. Courses will cover diverse range of topics.
  • Each course will be 40 hour module w⟋20 hours of video content & 20 hours of non-video content.
  • It will have built-in assessment exercises & activities as part of academic progression. There will be terminal assessment either online or written examination at end of course.
  • All faculties after successfully completing online refresher course will be certified. All in-service teachers, irrespective of their subject & seniority will register & complete these refresher courses which will help them in career advancement.
  • ARPIT will be every year exercise & NRCs will continuously develop new refresher module in thesir earmarked discipline each year.
  • Training materials will be uploaded & made available thru SWAYAM. In inaugural year 2018 itself, NRCs are expected to cater to around 13 lakh faculty of total 15 lakh faculty in higher education.

Examrace Team at Aug 21, 2021