DELHI: The Centre will involve premiere educational institutions like IITs and IIMs to fast-track the processes of assessment and accreditation of higher educational institutes along side official agencies such as NAAC and NBA, HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar said on Saturday.
"We have asked IITs and IIMs to come together and create an agency which we can use to expedite the process of accreditation," Javadekar told the media. He was speaking on the sidelines of the fourth World Summit of Accreditation. There are plans to expand both the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) and the National Board of Accreditation (NBA). Along side, the IITs and IIMs can also tie up to form an accreditation agency.
Currently, around 15 per cent of the country's higher educational institutes are accredited.From now, the key parameter for deciding on the standards of an institute would be the quality of education and accreditation would be based on learning outcomes and peer reviews, the minister said. Satellites can be used for the physical verification of the campus and infrastructure, he added.
"An institute which maintains quality will only survive and those who fail to do so will be out of business," he said.The comments come in the backdrop of University Grants Commission (UGC) in August clearing a proposal to allow more accreditation agencies to aid in giving out accreditations. Speaking at a panel discussion on the occasion of International Literacy Day, the minister also said the government will roll out a scheme for school students to engage in the literacy mission and provide education to people who are lack basic education in order to eliminate illiteracy within a span of five years.