The University Grants Commission (UGC) in India is issuing multipurpose smart cards to more than one crore students hailing from 16,885 colleges and about 300 universities in India, with their own unique number on it.

The UGC has proposed to create a National Graduate Student Repository and allocate a unique number to about one crore students pursuing their higher education in various universities and colleges across the country.The cards would help the UGC to monitor the students ‘performance.

The unique number scheme is part of the Graduates Registration and Information System being developed by the UGC. It constituted a committee to work out the modalities in developing a higher education information system. The need to assign a unique number to each student entering the Indian Higher Education System is to have a qualification skill competency and integrated with the multi-purpose cards.It will help the UGC to assess the need  for scholarships and loan schemes and to check the malpractices in the system of higher education.This project will also enable the UGC to track loan recovery and provide unemployment assistance.

According to the academicians the issue of smart cards to the students would increase the students mobility between universities across the country.After the introduction of the new system, the students need not produce their mark sheets or certificates to join courses in other universities because the card will have all the required information.

No doubt the introduction of SMART CARDS by the UGC, will largely relieve the students community a number of problems they face in their day to day life in their academic career. UGC should be complimented for embarking upon a novel but a purposeful project to help the student community in India, who are pursuing higher education in India.