New guidelines: Institutes that complete one year can seek provisional NAAC accreditation
Until
now, only those higher education institutions that are at least six years old,
or from where at least two batches of students have graduated, could apply for
NAAC accreditation.
Under a new set of
guidelines developed by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council
(NAAC), colleges and universities that have completed even one academic year
will be eligible to apply for provisional accreditation. According to the
guidelines, the move aims to “widen the horizon of accreditation”.
Until now, only those
higher education institutions that are at least six years old, or from where at
least two batches of students have graduated, could apply for NAAC
accreditation.
These criteria,
and the fact that not many institutions actually apply for review, had led to a
situation where very few of the 51,000 colleges, universities and standalone
institutions in the country possess NAAC grading.
The NAAC, which is an autonomous institution established
under the UGC Act, evaluates the institutions of higher education on a range of
parameters, including their governance structure, teaching and learning,
research, infrastructure, and financial well-being among others. Based on these
parameters, the NAAC gives institutions grades ranging from A++ to C. If an
institutions is given a D, it means it is not accredited.
What NAAC examines for PAC
Under the new NAAC guidelines, institutions that apply for
provisional accreditation for colleges (PAC) will be examined based on a
qualitative and quantitative framework. The quantitative questions that the
applicant colleges will have to answer range from student-teacher ratio to pass
percentage of students. Qualitatively, colleges will be judged on how they
assess learning levels of students and the use of technology in teaching, among
others.
According to official data, as on October 26, 2021, the NAAC
has issued 13,971 accreditations, which remain valid for five years. There are
only 12 universities and 64 colleges that have been reviewed by the NAAC four
times, with a gap of five years between each grading.
Under the new guidelines, provisional accreditation for
colleges (PAC) is essentially geared to ascertain the readiness of institutions
for the final NAAC accreditation.
Institutions that apply for the PAC process will get feedback
regarding the areas they need to work on to reach “the threshold level of
quality”, according to the manual.
The PAC will be valid for two years, and institutions cannot
get it more than two times.
UGC chairperson M Jagadesh Kumar is expected to address a
webinar on the guidelines on February 23. The guidelines were communicated to
colleges on January 23.
The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 lays major emphasis
on accreditation. It envisages a “meta-accrediting body” called the National
Accreditation Council.
According to the NEP, “Through a suitable system of graded
accreditation and graded autonomy, and in a phased manner over a period of 15
years, all Higher Education Institutes in India will aim to become independent
self-governing institutions pursuing innovation and excellence.”
Source | Indian Express | 18 February
2022
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