Accreditation Of Higher Educational Institutions:
The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) has relaxed the eligibility criteria for accreditation of higher educational institutions.
- The new guidelines drawn up by the NAAC, which is an autonomous body under the UGC, allow newer institutions — those with one academic year or more — to apply for provisional accreditation.
- So far, colleges and universities needed to be at least six years old in order to apply. The purpose of the change, according to the guidelines, is to “widen the horizon of accreditation”.
- 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.
