National Assessment And Accreditation Council : Facing Allegations
The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) has been facing allegations of irregularities in its functioning.
- There have been calls for the NAAC to adopt an Outcome-based approach (rather than a self-assessment input-based approach): In an outcome-based, the emphasis would be given to finding out if students are equipped with relevant skills and academic abilities.
- The former chairperson of NAAC’s executive committee resigned after alleging that malpractices were leading to questionable grades being awarded to some institutions.
- An inquiry commissioned found irregularities in the IT system and allocation of assessors.
- The inquiry also highlighted that nearly 70% of experts from the pool of around 4,000 assessors have not received any opportunity to make site visits.
- As of January 2023, out of the 1,113 universities and 43,796 colleges in the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE), 2020-2021, only 418 universities and 9,062 colleges were NAAC-accredited.
NAAC:
- Established in 1994, it is an autonomous body under the University Grants Commission (UGC) responsible for assessing the quality of higher educational institutions in India.
- Through a multi-layered assessment process, it awards grades ranging from A++ to C based on parameters such as curriculum, faculty, infrastructure, research and financial well-being.
