WELCOME TO NAAC
India has one of the largest and diverse education systems in the world. Privatization, widespread expansion, increased autonomy and introduction of Programmes in new and emerging areas have improved access to higher education. At the same time, it has also led to widespread concern on the quality and relevance of the higher education. To address these concerns, the National Policy on Education (NPE, 1986) and the Programme of Action (PoA, 1992) spelt out strategic plans for the policies, advocated the establishment of an independent National accreditation agency. Consequently, the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) was established in 1994 as an autonomous institution of the University Grants Commission (UGC) with its Head Quarter in Bengaluru. The mandate of NAAC as reflected in its vision statement is in making quality assurance an integral part of the functioning of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs).
The NAAC functions through its General Council (GC) and Executive Committee (EC) comprising educational administrators, policy makers and senior academicians from a cross-section of Indian higher education system. The Chairperson of the UGC is the President of the GC of the NAAC, the Chairperson of the EC is an eminent academician nominated by the President of GC (NAAC). The Director is the academic and administrative head of NAAC and is the member-secretary of both the GC and the EC. In addition to the statutory bodies that steer its policies and core staff to support its activities NAAC is advised by the advisory and consultative committees constituted from time to time.
NAAC Reforms 2024: Important Announcement- Dt.29th June 2024
Dr. Radhakrishnan Committee on transformative reforms in accreditation was approved by the Ministry of Education, Government of India. Based on the recommendations of the Committee, the Executive Committee of NAAC had proposed launching of Reforms in two phases-Binary Accreditation and Maturity Based Graded Levels.
The Apex committee and Discipline-wise Committees held about 40 meetings to complete required manuals and process related aspects. NAAC, as per the recommendation of the Apex committee, wishes to hold 5 regional workshops to elicit the nationwide views on the manual before launching it in the next two months. In addition, it has been proposed to engage with the Higher Education Departments/ Councils of various States to appraise them of planned Reforms in Accreditation thereby enabling most institutions to participate in the new Accreditation process.
Accordingly, the Executive Committee of NAAC has proposed that during the transition period, to ease the completion of pending applications under present the Revised Accreditation Framework (RAF) and to facilitate the smooth transformation to the proposed reforms, the following were resolved :
- Reiterating the earlier decision, it was decided to accept IIQA applications under present methodology (RAF) until 30th June 2024 (6.00 PM).
- HEIs with valid accreditation as per the present RAF whose validity is expiring between 1st July 2024 and date of launch of Maturity Based Graded Levels (MBGL) shall be extended for a maximum period of three months after the launch of MBGL.
- HEIs already accredited shall continue to hold the accreditation with the grade till its validity exists. During such a valid period of accreditation, such institutes may apply for Maturity Based Graded Level at any time once the MBGL is announced.
- HEIs whose IIQA or SSR applications are under RAF :
a. may opt for Binary accreditation (in such a case, the ongoing A & A process under RAF will be closed) OR
b. may decide to go ahead for A & A process under the current RAF. - HEIs who are not accredited shall apply for Binary accreditation as and when it is launched.