Maharashtra suggests reforms in NAAC, higher education minister writes letter to Centre

“Despite best efforts, only 20 percent of higher education institutions have so far been assessed at the national level. Apart from infrastructural issues, complex structure and cost of NAAC assessment have contributed to this apathy of educational institutions towards the process,” states the letter by Patil to Pradhan which suggests that making the process simple and affordable will speed up the uptake of assessment by more institutions.

“It will also help to avoid errors in the process. A financial incentive/fee reimbursement scheme may also be proposed by the Central and concerned state governments on a sharing basis, if necessary, in order to speed up the process,” it added, suggesting that the total expenditure should be limited to Rs 1.5 lakh which in the current process can go up to Rs 3 lakh or more for a college.

Referring to the All-India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE) Report 2021, which stated that a total of 61.4 percent of the colleges are located in the rural areas of the country, Patil mentioned that this has to be taken into consideration. He suggested in the letter that colleges in rural or inaccessible areas having not more than 500 students or those offering only a single course or stream should have parameters which are catering to requirements of that college, instead of uniformed criterion for all. “About 30 percent of the metrics can be optional and their weightage can be re-allocated accordingly,” said Patil in a letter.

Patil had announced last month that the state will suggest reforms in NAAC process to the central government, following a meeting with Vice Chancellors of all state universities in understanding the reason behind delay in complying with NAAC accreditation mandate by the state government. After several issues were pointed out by VCs at this meeting, a committee was formed under the leadership of VC of Kavayitri Bahinabai Chaudhari North Maharashtra University, Jalgaon, Prof V L Maheshwari, to study the issues faced by colleges and other higher education institutions in the state, in obtaining NAAC accreditation.

Currently in Maharashtra, out of 28 government colleges, 24 have NAAC accreditation and 1,133 out of total 1,177 government-aided colleges have obtained it. But out of 2,141 non-aided colleges across Maharashtra, only 257 have NAAC accreditation. Whereas 373 more have initiated the process after the state made it mandatory for colleges to continue admissions.