NAAC Relaxes Eligibility Criteria For Accreditation Of Higher Educational Institutions

19 Feb,22 9:30 am
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NAAC Guidelines on Accreditation: The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) which is an autonomous body under the UGC recently relaxed the eligibility criteria for the accreditation of higher educational institutions.

Key Points:

  • According to the guidelines, the main purpose of the change is to widen the horizon of accreditation.
  • University Grants Commission (UGC) chairperson M Jagadesh Kumar is expected to address a webinar on the new guidelines.
  • The guidelines had been communicated to colleges on January 23,2022 seeking feedback from stakeholders.
  • Out of 280 affiliated colleges, more than 200 affiliated higher educational institutions (HEIs) of DAVV are not accredited to NAAC accredited yet.

NAAC's new guidelines:

As per new guidelines of NAAC-

  • Colleges and universities that have completed even one academic year will be eligible to apply for a newly created category of ‘Provisional Accreditation for Colleges’ or PAC.
  • Last date to apply for provisional certificate is February 24, 2022.
  • Those institutions applying for the PAC process will get feedback on areas they need to work on in order to reach the threshold level of quality.
  • The PAC will not offer any grading and it will be valid for two years.
  • The institutions cannot get it more than two times.

What means Accreditation?

  • Accreditation means official recognition, or something that meets official standards.
  • Basically, it is a quality check exercise.
  • It checks whether an institution meets certain standards of quality set by the evaluator in terms of curriculum, faculty, infrastructure, research and financial well-being among others.
  • The NAAC, based on these parameters, gives institutions grades ranging from A++ to C.
  • If an institution is graded D, it means it is not accredited.

How many institutions in India are accredited?

  • There are 1,043 universities and 42,343 colleges listed on the portal of the All India Survey on Higher Education.
  • As of February 8, there were 392 universities and 8,483 colleges that were NAAC-accredited.
  • Among the states, Maharashtra accounts for the highest number of accredited colleges at 1,796, which is more than twice as many as the Karnataka’s 864, the next highest.
  • Tamil Nadu has the most accredited universities at 43.
  • Pondicherry University is among the oldest accredited universities.

About NAAC:

  • The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) is a government organization which assesses and accredits Higher Education Institutions (HEIs).
  • NAAC is an autonomous body that is funded by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
  • It was established in 1994, on the recommendations of National Policy in Education (1986).
  • It is headquartered in Bangalore.
  • This policy was put forward to “address the issues of deterioration in quality of education”.
  • NAAC grades institutes in eight-grades, viz., A++, A+, A, B++, B+, B, C and D.

About UGC:

  • UGC refers to the University Grants Commission.
  • The UGC India is a statutory body set up by the Government of India in accordance to the UGC Act 1956 under Ministry of Education (MoE).
  • It is charged with coordination, determination and maintenance of standards of higher education.
  • It was formed on 28 December 1953 by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the Minister of Education, Natural Resources and Scientific Research. 
  • It provides recognition to universities in India, and disbursements of funds to such recognized universities and colleges.

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