Learning by experience, we are closing gaps in NAAC: UGC Chairman Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar

NAAC announces major reforms in accreditation process, including binary system, maturity-based grading, and reduced physical visits.

Experience has taught caution to the officials at the helm of the National Accreditation and Assessment Council (NAAC). After facing allegations of bribery and bias in its grading process at Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation (KLEF)-Deemed to be University in Andhra Pradesh, major revamp has been announced in the accreditation process.

The proposed reforms include a binary accreditation system, maturity-based grading, stakeholders’ feedback and reduced reliance on physical visits by teams from NAAC.

“There should be zero tolerance for any such instance. We learn through experiences and this one has given us an opportunity to look into the entire process. That’s precisely why we looked into the assessor’s database and removed 900 of them,” Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar, Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC) and president of the NAAC’s General Council (GC) told The Hindu.

“Accreditation is important for institutions as “we need to establish some benchmarks,” he said. Referring to the proposed Binary Accreditation, which is a basic accreditation, he said given the fact that there are around 56,000 colleges and 1,200 Universities in the country, the major challenge would be to encourage all of them to get on-boarded in the accreditation process for creating quality culture in the higher education system.

“We want institutions to become more aspirational and move beyond the basic accreditation to opt for the maturity-based graded accreditation (Level 1 to 5) to raise their bar and continuously improve,” he said.

Prof. Kumar said the regulations are meant to create an ecosystem in Universities and enable the faculty members to contribute in diverse areas. “We are trying to break the disciplinary boundaries. If a candidate has studied BA Economics, MA Sociology and wants to pursue Ph.D in Economics, why should the University ask for a Master’s in Economics. We are now saying that independent of one’s disciplines in the undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, one can pursue a Ph. D in his/her choice of subject. Flexibility is the key in the new system.”

Prof. Kumar feels that these regulations would go a long way in changing the higher educational landscape of the country. “When I travel across the country and meet institutional leaders, faculty members and students, I see a lot of positivity. People identify challenges, but they are also trying to find solutions,” he said, adding that the government, through the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, is giving broader frameworks and a lot of flexibility to experiment and innovate. “Based on its own strengths and objectives for which a University has been set up, it can evolve its own system. If you have the capability to introduce a four-year under-graduation programme, you can go ahead and introduce it. We want to give this kind of freedom,” he said, informing that more than 200 Universities have already introduced the new format of courses, while more than 800 universities have established Research and Development Cells, a request made to the universities by the UGC.