The Hindu : NAAC accreditation to colleges, universities

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 15, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

NAAC accreditation to colleges, universities

By Our Staff Reporter

VISAKHAPATNAM, MARCH. 14. Assessment of a college or a university by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) is like a medical check-up, according the Director of NAAC, V.S. Prasad.

He made this observation while explaining the process of NAAC's accreditation at a workshop organised for the principals of the affiliated colleges of Andhra University here on Saturday.

The workshop was co-hosted by the NAAC and the AU College Development Council of A.U. Dispelling the fears and apprehensions the managements of some of the colleges might be entertaining by inviting an outside agency to assess their institutions, Prof. Prasad said that assessment by the NAAC was through a rational method, which was good for an institution.

"Assessment is not to expose your weaknesses but to understand the limitations--like during a medical check-up. You must have the desire to overcome limitations. We will observe your activities and performances and then discuss what you are planning to do in future,'' he said.

The NAAC Director explained in detail how his organisation would go about the assessment and accreditation process.

A three-stage process, combing self-study and peer group review was followed. The first stage was a self-study by the unit, followed by the on-site visit of a peer group formed by the NAAC for validation of this report and to recommend its outcome. In the third stage the executive committee of the NAAC would take the final decision on awarding the grade.

The peer group would give criterion-wise scores after studying the self-study report, which were used to arrive at the overall institutional score. A college or a university must score 55 per cent out of the 100 points to be considered for accreditation. The rest of 45 per cent of points were decided on a nine-point scale. The accreditation was valid for a five-year period. The institutions which were not considered for accreditation would be asked to apply again.

Prof. Prasad told the principals that the NAAC accreditation would help an institution in improving its performance, gain more support from funding agencies, better student mobility. The assessment was done by taking the institution as a whole unit giving weightage to seven aspects like curriculum, teaching-learning and evaluation, organisation and management, etc.

He stressed the role of principals in the case of colleges since 80 per cent of students were in colleges. "The principal is the academic leader and must create an quality environment.''

The NAAC Director pointed out that only 25 colleges in Andhra Pradesh received NAAC accreditation compared to 70 per cent of colleges in Haryana and nearly 35 per cent of colleges in Tamil Nadu.

The Vice-Chancellor, Y.C. Simhadri, presided over the inaugural session. He felt that self-assessment would benefit an institution. The curriculum must be updated constantly to meet the requirements of the industry and economy, he said. The Dean of the College Development Council, K. Ramesh, said that the workshop was organised to help more colleges in the AU area to receive NAAC accreditation, since excellence was the most required quality in the rapidly changing world.

There were 404 colleges---degree, post-graduate, management, oriental and other types---affiliated to AU, but only three or four of them received NAAC accreditation. The resource persons of the workshop, M.V.S. Rao from Berhampur and Trimurthy of Nagarjuna, spoke.

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