Colleges failing to get NAAC mandate to lose varsity affiliation

Colleges across state asked to begin with higher education institute registration, followed by institutional information for quality assessment

NAAC, National Assessment and Accreditation Council, nstitutional Information for Quality Assessment (IIQA), Mumbai news, Maharashtra, Indian Express, current affairs

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Colleges in Maharashtra, who have yet not started the process to obtain National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) grades, stand to lose their respective university affiliation at the beginning of the academic year 2023-24.

In an order issued to registrars of all non-agricultural universities across the state, Director of Higher Education Dr. Shailendra Deolankar has issued instructions to collate data of such colleges by the beginning of the admission process and take action against such institutions prescribed under the Maharashtra State Public Universities Act 2016, which suggests de-affiliating the college. The order, dated May 23, states, “Colleges across Maharashtra were asked to begin the NAAC accreditation process by the end of March 2023 and submit the status report to the Directorate. Along with this, it was informed… that failure in doing so means such colleges will not be allowed to admit students in the first year for the academic year 2023-24. Yet, there are many colleges who have not begun the process, according to the information gathered from the NAAC website.”

Colleges across the state were asked to begin with Higher Education Institute Registration, followed by Institutional Information for Quality Assessment (IIQA).

“This is only the first stage of the NAAC accreditation process. If there are colleges which are not willing to take steps for this, it raises serious questions on the quality of education being imparted at such colleges. It is not possible to ensure effective implementation of the new National Education Policy (NEP), without colleges having the basic grading,” according to Deolankar.

“When we are going to provide students the liberty to prepare their courses in the multi-disciplinary approach encouraged by NEP 2020, they have a right to know what is the quality of the higher education institution,” said Dr Deolkankar adding that the Maharashtra Public University Act 2016 already has a provision to take action against colleges which are not graded.

“We are instructing the universities to initiate the process,” he said. Considering that universities across Maharashtra have different schedules for their admission process, the order instructs universities to collate data of colleges before the admission process for different colleges begin and initiate action accordingly. According to data shared by the higher and technical education department, earlier, out of 1,177 aided colleges, 1,098 are NAAC accredited whereas out of the total 2,141 unaided colleges, only 238 have completed their NAAC accreditation. Twenty four out of 28 government colleges have NAAC accreditation.