{"id":35406,"date":"2023-05-20T01:43:51","date_gmt":"2023-05-19T20:13:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=35406"},"modified":"2025-04-21T06:26:38","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T00:56:38","slug":"govt-panel-recommends-overarching-agency-to-grade-varsities-including-iits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/govt-panel-recommends-overarching-agency-to-grade-varsities-including-iits\/","title":{"rendered":"Govt Panel Recommends Overarching Agency to Grade Varsities, including IITs"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>About National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Objectives of NAAC<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What is Assessment &amp; Accreditation?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>How Accreditation Process is Carried Out?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Institutions Accredited in India<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What are the Benefits of Being NAAC-Accredited?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>News Summary<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Recommendations of the Dr. K. Radhakrishnan Committee<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>A committee, formed by the Union government, has recommended that the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) be brought under the ambit of a proposed Accreditation agency.<\/li>\n<li>So far, IITs have never been accredited by the <strong>National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC)<\/strong>, which is the existing agency that grades India\u2019s colleges and universities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>About National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC)<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>NAAC is an <strong>autonomous body<\/strong> established by the University Grants Commission (UGC).<\/li>\n<li>It was established in <strong>1994<\/strong> on the basis of recommendations made under the <strong>National Education Policy (1986)<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>It is registered under the Karnataka Societies Registration Act of 1960.<\/li>\n<li><strong><u>Vision<\/u><\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li><i>To make quality the defining element of higher education in India through a combination of self and external quality evaluation, promotion and sustenance initiatives<\/i>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong><u>Headquarters<\/u><\/strong>: Bengaluru<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Objectives of NAAC<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>To arrange for <u>periodic assessment and accreditation of institutions of higher education<\/u> or units thereof, or specific academic programmes or projects;<\/li>\n<li>To <u>stimulate the academic environment for promotion of quality<\/u> of teaching-learning and research in higher education institutions;<\/li>\n<li>To <u>encourage self-evaluation, accountability, autonomy and innovations<\/u> in higher education;<\/li>\n<li>To undertake <u>quality-related research studies<\/u>, consultancy and training programmes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is Assessment &amp; Accreditation?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Assessment<\/strong> is the performance evaluation of an institution or its units based on certain established criteria.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Accreditation<\/strong> is the certification of quality for a fixed period, which in the case of NAAC is five years.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00b7 \u00a0 The University Grants Commission (UGC) through a gazette notification in January 2013, has made it <strong><u>mandatory for Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) to undergo accreditation<\/u><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>How Accreditation Process is Carried Out?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The <u>process of Assessment and Accreditation broadly consists of<\/u> \u2013\u00a0\n<ul>\n<li>Online submission of Institutional Information for Quality Assessment (IIQA) and Self-Study Report (SSR).<\/li>\n<li>Data Validation and Verification (DVV) by NAAC.<\/li>\n<li>Student Satisfaction Survey (SSS) by NAAC.<\/li>\n<li>Peer Team Visit.<\/li>\n<li>Institutional Grading.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Institutions Accredited in India<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi-test.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/media\/content\/ckeditor\/2023\/05\/23\/image-20230523075532-1.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Image Caption: Institutions Accredited in India<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>There are <strong>1,043 universities and 42,343 colleges<\/strong> listed on the portal of the All India Survey on Higher Education.\n<ul>\n<li>Out of these, <strong><u>392 universities and 8,483 colleges are NAAC-accredited<\/u><\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Region-wise, the northern states have the highest number of accredited universities at 136, followed by the south (113), the west (72), the east (52) and the Northeast (19).<\/li>\n<li>Among the states, Maharashtra accounts for the highest number of accredited colleges at 1,796.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Tamil Nadu<\/strong> has the most accredited universities (43).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What are the Benefits of Being NAAC-Accredited?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Through a multi-layered process steered by the NAAC, a higher education institution gets to know whether it meets certain standards of quality set by the evaluator in terms of curriculum, faculty, infrastructure, research and financial well-being among others.<\/li>\n<li>Based on these parameters, the <strong>NAAC gives institutions grades ranging from A++ to C<\/strong>. If an institution is graded D, it means it is not accredited.<\/li>\n<li>Apart from recognition, being accredited also <u>helps institutions attract capital as funding agencies look for objective data for performance funding<\/u>.<\/li>\n<li>It <u>helps an institution know its strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities<\/u> through an informed review process.<\/li>\n<li>NAAC accreditation helps students going for higher education abroad as many global higher education authorities insist on recognition and accreditation of the institution where the student has studied.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>News Summary<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>In November 2022, Central government had constituted a High Level Committee, under the Chairmanship of <strong>Dr. K. Radhakrishnan<\/strong>, for strengthening the Assessment &amp; Accreditation processes and preparing a road map for the National Accreditation Council envisioned in the National Education Policy, 2020.<\/li>\n<li>The committee recently submitted its report to the government.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Recommendations of the Dr. K. Radhakrishnan Committee<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The committee has recommended that the <strong><u>IITs should be brought under the ambit of NAAC<\/u><\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li>Currently, <i><strong>IITs follow their internal systems for periodic peer evaluation and assessment of programmes<\/strong><\/i>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Binary Accreditation System \u2013<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Currently, NAAC follows an eight-point grading system under which institutes are rated A++, A+, A, B++, B+, B, C and D based on data submitted by institutes and their verification by expert teams during campus visits.<\/li>\n<li>The committee has suggested that under the new system, institutes be certified as \u201c<strong>Accredited<\/strong>\u201d or \u201c<strong>Not Accredited<\/strong> (for those who are far below the standards for accreditation)\u201d.<\/li>\n<li>A separate category of \u201c<strong>Awaiting Accreditation<\/strong>\u201d will cover institutes which are \u201cclose to the threshold level\u201d or accreditation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The committee has also proposed that the <strong><u>entire accreditation process be made less dependent on inspections by teams of experts<\/u><\/strong> by adopting the mechanism of \u201ccrowdsourcing\u201d.\n<ul>\n<li>The idea now is to get the inputs submitted by the institutes vetted by a \u201ccarefully chosen set of audience with diverse association with the concerned institutes\u201d.<\/li>\n<li>This set of audience may include students (including PhD and postdoctoral scholars), faculty, staff, alumni, official visitors such as selection committee members, employers of the students, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>National Accreditation Council (NAAC) \u2013<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Lastly, the Radhakrishnan committee has proposed that instead of having separate bodies for accrediting institutes and courses, one overarching agency be set up.<\/li>\n<li>The proposed <strong>National Accreditation Council (NAAC)<\/strong>, envisaged by the NEP, should also subsume the <strong>National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF)<\/strong>, which ranks higher education institutes.<\/li>\n<li>The educational system should make transition to the proposed accreditation regime by December 2023.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q1) What is the role of UGC (University Grants Commission)?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Determining and maintaining standards of teaching, examination and research in universities. Framing regulations on minimum standards of education. Monitoring developments in the field of collegiate and university education; disbursing grants to the universities and colleges.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q2) What is All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) was set up in November 1945 as a national-level Apex Advisory Body to conduct a survey on the facilities available for technical education and to promote development in the country in a coordinated and integrated manner.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/education\/govt-panel-recommends-overarching-agency-to-grade-varsities-including-iits-8619125\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Govt panel recommends overarching agency to grade varsities, including IITs<\/u><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/economictimes.indiatimes.com\/industry\/services\/education\/government-panel-recommends-simpler-binary-accreditation-of-higher-education-institutes-including-iits\/articleshow\/100362948.cms?from=mdr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>ET<\/u><\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NAAC is the existing agency which is responsible for grading India\u2019s colleges and universities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":35407,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-35406","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}