'We operate on trust, but there are consequences for dishonesty'

Anil Sahasrabudhe, chairman of National Educational Technology Forum (NETF), the executive committee of National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), and National Board of Accreditation (NBA), speaks with Aeshwarya Tiwari about the reforms in accreditation bodies, global accreditation standards, NIRF rankings, 'One Nation One Data' initiative, and more. Edited excerpts below

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Q: You've held some of the most pivotal positions in India’s higher education ecosystem. Could you explain the ongoing reforms in NAAC and NBA?

A: The reforms in NAAC began after the ministry of education formed the Dr Radhakrishnan Committee tasked with recommending improvements in approval, accreditation, ranking, and overall evaluation approaches. Its recommendations were accepted about a year-and-a-half ago. Since then, NAAC has initiated a comprehensive reform process through expert consultations and detailed assessments of existing challenges.

One major issue is low participation in accreditation. Currently, only around 40% of universities and 18% of colleges come forward for NAAC accreditation. To address this, NAAC is introducing a new system called Basic or Binary Accreditation to ensure every institution meets a minimum quality benchmark. Under this model, traditional grades like A, A+, A++, B, B+, or C+ will be phased out. Institutions will either be accredited or not, based on essential quality criteria. This reform aims to establish a baseline of quality that all institutions must meet to operate.

In parallel, NAAC is working on a Maturity-Based Graded Accreditation System, which will allow institutions to progress beyond basic accreditation through continuous improvement. Institutions can move through five levels (L1 to L5) based on increasing quality benchmarks:

• L1-L3 increasing levels of accreditation

• L4: National and regional excellence

• L5: International excellence, aligning with the top universities globally.

Each level will involve more detailed metrics and higher performance standards.