E-PG Pathshala: Transforming Higher Education through Open Educational Resources in India Education

296 E-PG Pathshala: Transforming Higher Education through Open Educational Resources in India Education Satish Dandge Librarian SMBT Institute of Medical Sciences & Research Centre, Dhamangaon, Nashik Manisha Surase Librarian SPL’s CSMSS Medical College and Hospital, Limbe Jalgoan, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Rohini Kadam Research student Dept. of Library and Information Science, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Chhatrapati, Sambhajinagar Abstract Open educational resources (OER) facilitate learning without geographical or economic constraints, categorized into OCW and MOOCs. In India, e-PG Pathshala, backed by UGC-INFLIBNET and MHRD, contributes to this initiative through a comprehensive e-learning platform under the National Mission on Education through ICT (NME-ICT). An assessment of e-content modules reveals that 62% are produced by AHSS faculty, while STEMM faculties contribute 38%. The subject area is divided into five disciplines: Social Sciences, Arts, Humanities and Languages, Engineering, Technology, and Management, and Biological and Health Sciences. Keywords Open Courseware; MOOCs; Open Educational Resources; e-PG Pathshala; e-Content Module Electronic access The journal is available at www.jalis.in DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17293877 Journal of Advances in Library and Information Science ISSN: 2277-2219 Vol. 14. No.4. 2025. pp.296-300 1. Introduction Advances in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) have brought about tremendous changes in the teaching and learning process. Selfdirected learning resources in various fields are increasing the trend toward self-study. Self-directed learning processes are described as learners' innate ability to manage their learning process, viewing themselves as the source of their own decisions and actions as responsible for their lifelong learning. (SeYeng and Hussain 2010). Open Educational Resources (OERs) have proven themselves as essential platform for enhancing self-learning by providing study materials, course notes, and interactive videos for free study purposes from reputed institutions and academicians. Among the few recognised OERs, e-PG Pathshala has had a massive impact on the growth, promotion, and advancement of e-learning in India. It is an e-learning platform supported by the University Grants Commission through the INFLIBNET Center and funded by MHRD, Government of India. It acts as a gateway to all postgraduate-level courses. The e-PG School develops e-content in nearly 70 subjects at the postgraduate level, including high-quality, curriculum-based, cross-disciplinary interactive content across social sciences, arts, fine arts and humanities, and natural and mathematical sciences. The present study attempts to analyze the status of econtent modules. 2. Review of Literature OER, Open Courseware (OCW), or Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in collaboration with elearning is not a new area of research, although there is a huge lack of awareness about Indian OER platforms such as e-PG Pathshala. Discussed below are some potential studies that attempt to paint a picture of the state of Indian OER and e-learning platforms regarding e-PG schools: Maharaj (2018), in his paper "Study on the Role of ePG Schools in the Development of e-learning", defines the meaning of e-learning, the objectives and benefits of e-PG schools, and their statistical use of data from various fields. The study includes the ratio of total visitors to registered visitors; State-wise visitors in India regarding total state population and total higher education enrolment; Hazam (2016) presented a SWOT analysis of an e-learning platform e-PG Pathshala. This paper discussed the concept of open courseware in general and specifically Journal of Advances in Library and Information Science, Vol.14, No.4.Oct-Dec.. 2025, pp-296-300 E-PG Pathshala: Transforming Higher Education through Open Educational Resources in India../Satish Dandge et al 297 elaborated on the meaning, purpose, and objectives of e-PG schools in India to evaluate the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis of e-PG schools. In addition, the role of libraries and information centers in the electronic distribution of information was also mentioned in the study. 3. Objectives 1. To examine the present status of e-Content in the Indian OER e-PG Pathshala. 2. To analyze the subject-wise contribution of e-content in e-PG schools. 3. To explore the contribution of e-content in more depth sub-category level. 4. To determine the statistical correlation present between the number of papers and uploaded modules in different subject disciplines. 4. Scope and Limitations of Study The scope of the study extends to all 67 subject categories (actual number = 70, but data for three fields are missing from E-PG statistics) of e-PG schools, which are mainly divided into two broad categories. STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Medicine, and Management) and AHSS (Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences), which are further divided into 5 major subject categories. In addition, the study tests the existence of statistical tests to check the presence of any correlation between paper and module number. E-Text Video Experts Quiz Subjects / Papers 20000+ 19000+ 3200+ 30000+ 70/723 5. Research Methodology Data for the study were collected in June 2023 from the website of e-PG Pathshala (http://epgp.inflibnet.ac.in/) (e-PG Pathshala, n.d.-b). Data mining was performed from the raw data with the use of spreadsheet software for enhanced visualisation. Studies were systematically categorised into broad to narrow categories of subject areas covered under E-PG Pathshala. Initially, the data were organised into two broad categories, AHSS and STEMM, followed by 5 major disciplines: Social Sciences; Arts, Humanities, and Languages; Engineering, Technology, and Management; Physical and Basic Sciences; and Bio-medical and Health Sciences; and 67 major subject sub-categories in subsequent steps. The subcategory of major subjects contributed 908 papers and 25283 modules. 6. Data Analysis and Interpretation After the data collection is over, the raw data is analysed by a simple quantitative method based on the relevant parameter set suitable for interpreting the present study. 6.1. Contribution of Broad Branches of Subject Table 2: Broad Branches of Subject Branch of Subjects No. of Major Subjects Category No. of SubCategories Total no. of Papers Total no. of uploaded modules (%) AHSS 2 38 538 15553 61.52 STEMM 3 29 371 9730 35.48 Total 5 67 908 25283 100.00 Table 2 shows that although the AHSS branch covers only two major subject categories, e-PG covers 61.52% (15553) of the total modules uploaded in the school. The STEMM faculty of the subject covered 38.48% (9730) of the uploaded modules with 3 major subject categories. Again, the faculty of AHSS has also pressed the STEMM faculty to consider the numbers. 6.2. Contribution of Major Subject Category Table 3: Major Subject Category Sr. No. Major Subject Category No. of Sub-Categories Total no of Papers Total no of uploaded modules (%) 1 Social Sciences 22 319 8791 34.77 2 Arts, Humanities, and Languages 16 218 6782 26.82 Journal of Advances in Library and Information Science, Vol.14, No.4.Oct-Dec.. 2025, pp-296-300 E-PG Pathshala: Transforming Higher Education through Open Educational Resources in India../Satish Dandge et al 298 3 Engineering, Technology, and Management 10 131 4158 16.45 4 Physical and Basic Sciences 8 112 3845 15.21 5 Bio-Medical and Health Sciences 11 128 2627 10.39 Total 67 908 25283 100.00 From Table 3 above, it is observed that among the 5 major subject categories, "Social Sciences" has contributed the largest number of E-PG colleges with 8791 (34.77%). It is followed by "Arts, Humanities and Languages," which contributed 6782 (26.82%). This was followed by “Engineering, Technology, and Management” 4158 (16.45%), “Physical and Basic Sciences 3845 (15.21%)” and “Bio-Medical and Health Sciences 2627 (10.39%)”. is given It is clear from this that out of the top three contributors of ePG schools, two are from AHSS faculty and one from STEMM faculty. 6.3. Contribution of Sub-Categories (Individual Subjects) Table 4: Sub-Categories (Individual Subjects) Sr. No. Subject Paper Modules % 1 Hotel & Tourism Management 16 693 2.74 2 Home Science 16 640 2.53 3 Sanskrit (MA) 16 460 2.53 4 Computer Science 17 633 2.5 5 Food and nutrition 15 602 2.38 6 Human Resources Management 16 599 2.37 7 Management 15 599 2.37 8 Psychology 16 599 2.37 9 Statistics 16 595 2.35 10 Hindi 16 592 2.34 11 Economics 15 567 2.24 12 Mathematics 16 567 2.24 13 Chemistry 16 565 2.23 14 English 16 560 2.21 15 Forensic Science 16 560 2.21 16 Astrology-mathematics 16 560 2.21 17 Performing Arts ( Dance/Drama/Drama) 16 560 2.21 18 Spanish 16 560 2.21 19 Anthropology 16 559 2.21 20 Sanskrit (grammar acharya) 16 534 2.11 21 Environmental Science 16 530 2.1 22 Sociology 15 526 2.08 23 Indian culture 15 524 2.07 24 Linguistics 16 493 1.95 25 Social Work Education 16 487 1.93 26 Visual Arts 14 487 1.93 27 criminality 14 482 1.91 28 Commerce 16 469 1.86 29 Physical science 16 465 1.84 30 Law 16 462 1.83 31 Business Economics 16 457 1.81 32 Japanese 16 453 1.79 33 Biophysics 14 450 1.78 34 Russian studies 13 436 1.72 35 Women's Studies/Gender Study 15 431 1.7 36 Library and information Science 20 395 1.56 37 media and Communication Studies 9 383 1.51 38 Population studies 14 383 1.51 39 Human rights and Duties 10 364 1.44 40 Physics 12 343 1.36 41 Geography 16 337 1.33 42 Philosophy 16 333 1.32 43 Food Technology 14 329 1.3 44 Information Technology 16 318 1.26 45 Urdu 11 312 1.23 46 Biochemistry 16 261 1.03 47 Biotechnology 12 261 1.03 48 Analytical Chemistry/Instrumentation 15 222 0.88 49 political science 7 222 0.88 50 Pharmaceutical Science 12 215 0.85 51 Adult education 8 190 0.75 52 Zoology 16 184 0.73 53 Electronic Science 15 177 0.7 54 Botany 7 176 0.7 55 Architecture 6 164 0.65 56 Geology 11 136 0.54 57 Social medicine and Community Health 6 111 0.44 58 Education 15 106 0.42 59 Public administration 15 102 0.4 60 Comparative of Religions Study 13 77 0.3 61 Buddhist studies 12 67 0.27 62 Earth Science 9 49 0.19 Journal of Advances in Library and Information Science, Vol.14, No.4.Oct-Dec.. 2025, pp-296-300 E-PG Pathshala: Transforming Higher Education through Open Educational Resources in India../Satish Dandge et al 299 63 M Planning 2 45 0.18 64 Physical Education, Sports and Health Education 14 37 0.15 65 Chinese 8 26 0.1 66 Risk / Disaster Management 3 21 0.08 67 Bioinformatics 2 1 0 Total 908 25283 100.00 Across five major categories of faculties, 67 individual subjects have contributed to the highquality, syllabus-based, interactive e-content of e-PG Pathshala, with 25283 modules from 5 faculties. Hotel & Tourism Management 693 (2.74%) has contributed the most to this. followed by Home Science contributed 640 (2.53%) modules. After that, Sanskrit (MA) 640 (2.53%), Computer Science 633 (2.5%), and Food and Nutrition 602 (2.38%) contributed significantly, and the contribution of other subjects is shown in the table. 6.4. Contribution of Subject in Library and Information Science Table 5: Contribution of Subject in Library and Information Science Sn Subject Of LIS Modu les % 1 Information Communication Technology For Libraries 39 9.92 2 Public Library 36 9.16 3 Information Sources, Systems and Services 35 8.91 4 Knowledge Organisation And Processing: Cataloguing 34 8.65 5 Management Of Library and Information Centre’s & Amp; Knowledge Centers 31 7.89 6 Library Use And User Study 31 7.89 7 Digital Libraries 30 7.63 8 Special And Research Libraries 28 7.12 9 Knowledge Organization And Processing: Classification 26 6.62 10 Academic Libraries 23 5.85 11 Informetrics &Amp; Scientometrics 19 4.83 12 Knowledge Society 17 4.33 13 Information Storage And Retrieval 15 3.82 14 Social Science Information Systems 15 3.82 15 Media And Information Literacy 14 3.56 Total 393 100 About 67 subjects have contributed to this database. Among them, library and information science is an important subject. A total of 15 papers and 395 modules are shown in this subject but actually, only 393 modules are available on the E-PG Pathshala database. Most of the modules have been published in this paper on Information Communication Technology for Libraries. Since then, the public library has been published in this paper. Media and Information Literacy papers have the least number of modules published. 7. Findings This study analyses the collation, tabulation, organisation, evaluation, and dissemination of ematerials accessed by students and researchers through the e-PG Pathshala database, with a focus on geography and related subject areas. Key findings include: • While e-PG Pathshala claims to cover approximately 70 subject areas (Table 1), in reality, it provides data for only 67 subjects, indicating a gap of three fields. • The subjects are broadly classified under two major faculties: AHSS (Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences) and STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine). Of the total uploaded modules, AHSS accounts for 15,553 modules (61.52%), whereas STEMM covers 9,730 modules (38.48%) (Table 2). • These broad faculties are further categorized into five major subject groups: “Social Sciences,” “Arts, Languages and Humanities” (both under AHSS), and “Engineering, Technology and Management,” “Physical and Basic Sciences,” and “Bio-Medical and Health Sciences” (under STEMM). • Overall, there are 67 individual subjects, 908 papers, and 25,283 modules available on the platform (Table 3). • Specifically, in the field of Information and Communication Technology for Libraries, although 15 papers and 395 modules are listed, only 393 modules are actually accessible in the database. Journal of Advances in Library and Information Science, Vol.14, No.4.Oct-Dec.. 2025, pp-296-300 E-PG Pathshala: Transforming Higher Education through Open Educational Resources in India../Satish Dandge et al 300 These findings highlight both the extensive scope of e-PG Pathshala and the discrepancies between reported and actual content availability. 8. Conclusion Open Educational Resources (OER) are freely available teaching, learning, and research materials in any medium that reside in the public domain or are shared under open licenses, allowing access, use, adaptation, and redistribution. In higher education, platforms like OCW (Open Courseware) and MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) play a key role in advancing e-learning systems globally. In India, the Government’s National Mission on Education through ICT (NMEICT) launched E-PG Pathshala, providing quality e-content to students nationwide. This platform has developed over 25,283 modules covering STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Medicine) and AHSS (Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences). Interestingly, module contributions are almost double for AHSS compared to STEMM. To bridge this gap, more content in “Engineering, Technology & Management” and “Bio-Medical & Health Sciences” is essential. A UGC-defined curriculum and proactive e-content development can make OER a powerful tool to deliver equal, high-quality education across India. 9. References 1) Inflibnet. (n.d.). INFLIBNET. https://www.inflibnet.ac.in/ (Retrieved November 5, 2022) 2) E-PG Pathshala. (n.d.). E-PG Pathshala. https://epgp.inflibnet.ac.in/ (Retrieved November 5, 2022) 3) Hazam, M. A. (2016). SWOT analysis of E-PG Pathshala. ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318108 077_SWOT_ANALYSIS_OF_E-PG_PATHSH ALA (Retrieved November 5, 2022) 4) Hewlett Foundation. (2016). 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