NAAC'S ACCREDITATION SYSTEM NEEDS CHANGE TO BE CREDITABLE

THE National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), in its executive council meeting on January 27, 2024, decided to introduce a binary categorisation of "accredited" or "not accredited" for higher educational institutions, departing from the letter grade system.

- JOHN J KENNEDY

Further, to encourage institutions to raise their bar, it said accredited institutions could go for higher levels of accreditation. Such institutions would be categorised into two groups under Maturity-Based Graded Accreditation (MBGA).

In this system, those meeting the expected requirements will be classified as 'Institutions of National Excellence' and put in levels 1 to 4. Those performing exceedingly well will be placed in level 5, indicating they are 'Institutions of Global Excellence for Multi-Disciplinary Research and Education'. The binary accreditation system will be introduced in the next four months, and the MBGA is expected to be implemented by December 2024.

The move to streamline the NAAC's accreditation system-hitherto mired in controversies and allegations of irregularities, favouritism and corruption-is welcome. Around the same time in 2023, many higher educational institutions levelled serious charges against the NAAC. To probe into the allegations, Bhushan Patwardhan, the agency's executive council chairman, commissioned a committee headed by JP Singh Joreel, director of the Information and Library Network.