According to a NAAC report that analyzed government colleges in rural areas across state and central universities, colleges scored poorly on parameters such as physical infrastructure, e-learning, and alumni engagement
What are the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC)?
- NAAC conducts assessment and accreditation of Higher Educational Institutions (HEI) such as colleges, universities or other recognized institutions to derive an understanding of the ‘Quality Status’ of the institution.
- NAAC evaluates the institutions for its conformance to the standards of quality in terms of its performance related to the educational processes and outcomes, curriculum coverage, teaching-learning processes, faculty,
- Research, infrastructure, learning resources, organization, governance, financial well being, and student services.
Key highlights about NAAC
Units of Assessment
NAAC’s instrument is developed to assess and grade institutions of higher education through aThree-step-process and make the outcome as objective as possible.
Institutional Accreditation
- University: University Central Governance Structure along with all the Undergraduate and Post Graduate Departments.
- College: Any College – affiliated, constituent or autonomous with all its departments of studies.
- Department Accreditation any department/School/Centre of the University.
Presently, NAAC is undertaking only Institutional accreditation.
Criteria
NAAC has identified a set of seven criteria to serve as the basis of its assessment Procedures. NAAC has categorized the Higher Educational Institutions into three major types (University,Autonomous College and Affiliated/Constituent College) and assigned different weights to these criteria under different key aspects based on the functioning and organizational focus of the three types of HEIs. The criteria include;
- Circular Aspects
- Teaching-learning & Evaluation
- Research, Innovations & Extension
- Infrastructure & Learning Resources
- Student Support & Progression
- Governance, Leadership & Management
- Institutional Values & Best Practices
Grading
- Institutions are graded for each Key Aspect under four categories, viz. A, B, C, and D, denoting Very good, Good, Satisfactory and unsatisfactory levels respectively.
- The summated score for all the Key Aspects under a Criterion is then calculated with the appropriate weighting applied to it and the GPA is worked out for the Criterion.
- The Cumulative GPA (CGPA), which gives the final Assessment Outcome, is then calculated from the seven GPAs pertaining to the seven criteria, after applying the prescribed weightage to each Criterion.
