The Hindu : Front Page : Varsity to lay stress on NBA accreditation

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Sep 17, 2007
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Varsity to lay stress on NBA accreditation

R. Krishnamoorthy

Prospects are bright for a good number of colleges to obtain accreditation: VC
AICTE views the process as a sensitive tool for quality assurance in technical education

TIRUCHI: Anna University-Tiruchi (AU-T) has decided to prevail upon affiliated colleges that have established their high standing so far to obtain accreditation from the National Board of Accreditation (NBA), an autonomous body of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), for their programmes.

For the colleges, NBA accreditation means identifying their programmes with excellence in technical education; being assured of conformity to good practices and benchmarks of global requirements; and gaining ability to rate programmes on a national platform to attract better intake. The quality of faculty and students; finance and physical resource; mission and goals; research and development; industry-institute interaction, and teaching-learning process are the main factors considered for NBA accreditation.

Programmes with a score of more than 650 marks are considered accredited for a period of three years while the validity of programmes with more than 750 marks is for five years.

The AICTE views accreditation process as a sensitive tool for quality assurance in technical education since it makes possible sustenance of the present institutional growth rate and ensures maintenance of credible programmes.

According to Vice-Chancellor V. Ramachandran, the prospects are bright for a good number of colleges to obtain NBA accreditation for their programmes. To the university’s advantage, a handful of colleges in Dindigul and Theni districts, which were earlier under the jurisdiction of the Anna University-Coimbatore, have now been brought under AU-T after the formation of Anna University-Tirunelveli.

Out of 74 colleges that were under the jurisdiction of AU-T, about 30 colleges have been transferred to the control of the Tirunelveli-based technical university with retrospective effect from July 17. Since all the 47 colleges are now within a radius of around 100 kilometres, the task of governance of quality initiatives has been made simpler, said Dr. Ramachandran.

Meanwhile, the 350-acre campus of Bharathidasan Institute of Technology, from where the AU-T started functioning, has been formally transferred from Bharathidasan University. A Government Order to that effect was issued last week.

The classes for the first batch of students in the university will commence on September 17.

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