National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC)

What’s in today’s article?

• Why in News?
• What Exactly is the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC)?
• What is the NAAC’s Accreditation Process?
• What Circumstances Led to the Resignation of the Chair of the NAAC Executive Committee?

Why in News?

• Lack of action on the report, which was submitted to the University Grants Commission (UGC), was flagged by NAAC executive committee chairperson (Bhushan Patwardhan) in the days before he recently announced his resignation.

What Exactly is the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC)?

• It is a government organisation (HQ in Bangalore) in India established in 1994 in response to recommendations of National Policy in Education (1986).
• It is an autonomous body that assesses and accredits Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) such as colleges, universities/other recognised institutions to derive an understanding of the ‘Quality Status’ of the institution.
• It is funded by the UGC and evaluates the institutions in terms of their performance related to the teaching-learning processes, faculty, research, infrastructure, governance, financial wellbeing, student services, etc.

Image Caption: Vision and Mission of NAAC

What is the NAAC’s Accreditation Process?

• The first step involves an applicant institution submitting a self-study report (SSR) based on quantitative and qualitative metrics.
• The data is subjected to validation by expert teams of NAAC, with quality reviewed during site visits by peer teams.
• According to the Government of India, of the 1,113 universities and 43,796 colleges in the All-India Survey on Higher Education Report 2020-21, NAAC accredited 418 universities and 9,062 colleges as on January 31, 2023.

What Circumstances Led to the Resignation of the Chair of the NAAC Executive Committee?

• Based on various complaints, the NAAC executive committee chairperson (Bhushan Patwardhan) suggested the need for an independent inquiry by appropriate high-level national agencies.
• The review panel, headed by J P Singh Joreel, was set up by NAAC executive committee chairperson, to review the functioning of the NAAC.
  • Joreel is the director of Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET), which is involved in modernising university libraries.
• A report was submitted (to the UGC last year) by the panel, with major findings –
  • The possibility of a compromised IT system;
  • Presence of multiple “super admins” who have full access to the NAAC’s internal system and the power to allot experts;
  • Non-maintenance of logs which may have adverse fall outs;
  • Arbitrary allocation of experts raising questions of conflict of interest;
  • Vested interests, malpractices are manipulating processes in the accreditation system;
  • The process of selection of experts who comprise peer teams that are sent to assess applications for accreditation is neither random nor sequential;
  • Nearly 70% of experts from the pool of assessors do not appear to have received any opportunity to conduct site visits while some others have had multiple such visits.
• Lack of action on the report was flagged by NAAC executive committee chairperson.

Q1) What is NAAC and its accreditation process?

NAAC is an autonomous body funded by the UGC and that assesses and accredits Higher Education Institutions. The first step of the NAAC accreditation process involves an applicant institution submitting a self-study report. The data is subjected to validation by expert teams of NAAC, with quality reviewed during site visits by peer teams.

Source: NAAC resignation row | Dubious experts, compromised IT: Review panel red-flags how NAAC grades colleges and univs | NAAC.gov.in

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrUrbWkywuw