Stamp of approval @ Deemed Universities now able to apply for NAAC accreditation
With more deemed universities now able to apply for NAAC accreditation, students will finally have a uniform rating scale to help them make informed choices
NAAC accreditation
considers infrastructure, learning resources and curricular aspects, so it is
an important way for institutes to distinguish themselves from one another. D P
SINGH, director of NAAC
All of India’s deemed universities could soon
be brought under a uniform ratings system, just as colleges have been —
allowing students to make more informed choices about where they wish to study.
Currently,
colleges recognised by the government must all be accredited by the NAAC, the
National Assessment and Accreditation Council. This means that you know, for
instance, that Mumbai’s St Xavier’s College is an A+, while BM Ruia Girls
College isaB.
But for deemed universities, the situation
was a lot more complicated. They could only get NAAC accreditation if they had
been recognised by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and received all
their approvals from the union government’s HRD ministry.
If even one secondary campus or a single
course had not received all the nods, the university would continue to function,
but it could not be accredited by NAAC.
“Unapproved campuses were holding up
accreditation for deemed universities and this left students confused— because
some deemed varsities had accreditation, some didn’t, and it was almost hard
for students to figure out why or what that meant,” says NAAC director DP
Singh.
Now, the UGC has announced that all deemed
universities with UGC accreditation can go ahead and apply for NAAC
accreditation too, regardless of whether all campuses and courses have been
approved by the UGC and / or the Centre.
This move is likely to benefit 122 deemed
universities in India, including the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management
Studies (NMIMS) Deemed University and the Tata Institute of Fundamental
Research (TIFR) in Mumbai and prestigious institutes like Indian School of
Mines, Dhanbad.
“This will be a shot in the arm for us,” says
Rajan Saxena, vice-chancellor of the NMIMS deemed university, which last got
accreditation in 2006, before it set up its offsite campuses. “We have campuses
in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Shirpur that have been approved by the UGC and
recommended to the HRD ministry for approval, but not been approved yet. Now we
can apply for accreditation for those campuses too.”
According to the UGC announcement, the NAAC
will be directed to de-link the accreditation of the main campus of such
universities from the subsidiary campuses that are still awaiting approvals,
and carry out the accreditation process of the main campuses.
A WIN-WIN NAAC accreditation grades institutes
of higher education on a seven-point grading system. “Factors such as
infrastructure, learning resources and curricular aspects are considered, so
the accreditation is an important way for institutes that have excelled to
distinguish themselves from others. And they are a good way for students to
gauge the standing of an institute,” says D P Singh of NAAC.
The lack of a ranking, likewise, can cause
confusion. When I was applying for an MSc at TIFR last year, I was confused by
the fact that the institute did not have any accreditation,” says Shraddha
Kanpurwala,20. “Since the education counsellors recommended the college, I went
ahead and I am glad I did, but NAAC accreditation for all such institutes would
help make decisions easier for other students like me.”
NAAC ratings are also taken into account
among many other criteria by foreign students planning to study in India, says
Adarsh Choudhary, co-founder of study-abroad consultancy company Collegify.
NAAC accreditation reflects the teaching
quality, infrastructure, support staff and so on which will help students
choose a university for themselves, says Pratibha Jain, counsellor at education
consultancy EduAbroad.
“It will also help in the standardised
comparison between two institutes and ensure healthy competition, leading to
better quality of education.”
The institutes are already lining up. TIFR,
for instance, is in the process of applying for NAAC accreditation this
academic year. “The decision is new and so it is difficult to say whether it
will benefit us in this accreditation cycle or we will have to apply again for
it,” says registrar George Anthony. “But the assurance is that it will help us
in being accredited and have a better stand in the sector.”
Source | Hindustan Times | 21 December 2016
Regards
Pralhad
Jadhav
Senior
Manager @ Library
Khaitan & Co
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