National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC)

Why in News?

The CBI recently arrested 10 people of NAAC inspection team and office-bearers of Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation (KLEF), Andhra Pradesh, in a case of bribery for a favorable NAAC rating.

• NAAC is a body set up under the University Grants Commission (UGC).
• Established in – 1994.
• Headquarters – Bengaluru.
• NAAC is controlled by a General Council (GC) and an Executive Committee (EC).
• Governing council- Headed by - UGC chief.
• Aim – To evaluate the performance of higher education institutions, and providing accreditation.
• NAAC grades are widely regarded as a marker of quality, with institutions prominently displaying them.

UGC regulations of 2012

• It made it mandatory for higher education institutions to get accredited after 6 years of functioning, or after two batches have graduated.
• This means that for funds from the UGC, a higher education institution needs to be accredited.
• Autonomous Accreditation - These grades also specifically matter in certain scenarios for instance, to apply for autonomy, a college needs to be accredited with a minimum NAAC grade of ‘A’.
• Criteria - Institutions are assessed on parameters including infrastructure, teaching and evaluation, governance, and research.

• Process - The process of assessment involves the institute itself submitting a ‘self-study’ report, a ‘student satisfaction survey’ conducted by NAAC, and a ‘peer team visit’.
• It ends with a NAAC grade and accreditation certification of quality provided by NAAC for a period of 5 years or 7 years in the case of institutions that have had an ‘A’ grade or higher in previous cycles.

National Education Policy 2020

• It suggested that the present 8-point grading system transition into a binary accreditation system the institution will be identified as ‘accredited’, ‘awaiting accreditation’, or ‘not accredited.’
• In 2024, NAAC announced reforms in the accreditation process in line with the committee’s recommendations binary accreditation instead of grades, along with a maturity-based graded accreditation.
• The system classified from levels 1 to 5 for accredited institutions to improve their quality.
• Institutions can evolve from Levels 1 to 4 as “Institutions of national excellence”, and progress to Level 5 as “Institutions of Global Excellence for Multi-Disciplinary Research and Education”.
• This system is still in the process of being rolled out with workshops having been held with stakeholders so far.

Reference

The Indian Express | NAAC bribery case