BHUBANESWAR: Even as the state plans to implement NEP-2020 in higher education soon, eight of its public universities are yet to join the UGC’s accreditation cycle.
While the list has names of universities that were set up by the former BJD government in the last seven years, it also includes Shree Jagannath Sanskrit University which was established in 1981.
Higher Education minister Suryabanshi Suraj had recently informed the Assembly that eight of the 17 public universities have either not been accredited even once or renewed their accreditation, which includes the four-decade-old Sanskrit university.
According to official reports, the Sanskrit university is managing its academics with just about 20 faculty members against the sanctioned 45 posts. Due to this, the existing faculty members are forced to juggle teaching and administrative work, leading to examination delays.
The other universities that haven’t been accredited even once include Maa Manikeswari, Rajendra, Vikram Dev, Dharanidhar, MS Law and Odia universities. While Odia University was opened two years back, most of these institutions were upgraded to universities in the last five years and continue to grapple with severe shortage of teaching staff.
Utkal, Berhampur, Sambalpur, Fakir Mohan, Ravenshaw and Maharaja Sriram Bhanja Deo universities got their existing NAAC grades upgraded for the second cycle in the last two years. Rama Devi and Odisha State Open universities were accredited for the first time last year. Gangadhar Meher university is yet to renew its accreditation.
A higher official of the department said under the new system, the UGC will implement an evaluation process to assess the higher education institutions on the basis of NEP implementation. “The accreditation becomes all the more necessary because the NAAC scores obtained during the accreditation process will be mandatory for making the institutions eligible for several privileges and entitlements,” he added.