Clarification from NAAC on doubts raised in the media
Recently there were some reports about NAAC in the media. It may be pointed out that processes within NAAC are continuously being improved so that assessment and accreditation of the educational institutions are done transparently and professionally. The following facts are hereby presented to clear the doubts raised in the media:
1. Selection of experts:
Facts: The selection of assessors as Peer Team members for qualitative assessment are based on fourcriteria; First: types of HEIs to be accredited, Second: Types of programs and courses offered under each program by HEIs; Third: the constitution of Peer Team panel generated by the coordinators in the system ensuring the relevance of specialization of experts vis-à-vis HEIs; Fourth: acceptance of the invitation by the Peer Team experts. The NAAC ensures that the Peer Team experts are not from the same state of HEIs. The NAAC also follows a due protocol for designating different portfolios of the Peer Team i.e. the Chairperson, Member Coordinator and Member(s). The experts have to give in writing a declaration on code of conduct, ethical standards and no conflict of interest statement before proceeding on Peer Team visit.
2. The pool of assessors involved in the accreditation process.
Facts : The total active assessors in the NAAC database is 4686, out of which 3075 assessors have accepted the Peer Team visit invitations, which is roughly around 67% of the database. The remaining 33% of not-utilized assessors fall under the categories of profile not completed, unavailable and dropout due to various reasons.
3. Need for Multiple “super-admin” in the system.
Facts: Super-admins comprising of Advisor ICT and System Analyst have been created only to manage and supervise the overall operations of the system. Super-admin can view and manage but have no editing option.
4. Maintenance of logs.
Facts: Manager Logins have been created for the various managers of models to view and manage without any edit options. Admin-logins have been created for all the officers for the verification and validation of IIQA, SSR, DVV who conduct Peer Team visits. All logs are recorded for the selection of Peer Team members in addition to the logs which are essential for the operation of the system which have already been created in the system. The Log Officers report to their respective heads for guidance and support.
5. Pace of accreditation of universities and colleges
Facts: The NAAC organized several handholding programmes in various states (region-wise) to motivate and bring more HEIs under the ambit of accreditation. The NAAC has launched a new scheme Margadarshanfor monitoring and handholding to accreditation aspirants HEIs. Some of the other initiatives include reducing the number of metrics, ease the accreditation process, dedicated studio, and ICT-enabled system, and reducing the fee of assessment and accreditation.
As per the mandate of NAAC,the entire process of Accreditation and Assessment is robust, transparent, ICT-driven and automated. The system cannot be compromised because the whole process is decentralized, transparent and accessible to the stakeholders through a user-friendly portal and dashboard at all stages of the assessment and accreditation process. The process of awarding grades to HEIs has four fool-proof steps, one: submission of Peer Team Report along with grade; two: scrutiny by Standing Committee which is a Sub-Committee of Executive Committee; three: declaration of results by NAAC and four: ratification of the results by Executive Committee. So, there is no possibility of manipulating the process leading to the awarding of grades.
The STQC, Govt. of India in its certificate dated 25.07.2022 on Web Application Security Compliance Status has found web applications satisfactory. The certificate is valid for two years.
The report on ICT Assessment and Accreditation process of NAAC submitted on 09.10.2022 concludes “on the whole, the committee was highly impressed with the implementation carried out by the ICT team for this challenging Accreditation process involving a large number of institutions with limited human resources and infrastructure facilities within a stipulated time. The Committee also is highly appreciative of the fact that there have been no glitches during the entire A & A process”.
University Grants Commission has constituted the following Committees to deal with the issues related to the Accreditation of Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs)
1. The Committee under the Chairmanship of Prof.BhushanPatwardhan for a Road Map to develop the National Accreditation Council (NAC) through the synchronized working of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), National Board of Accreditation (NBA) and National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF).
2. The Committee constituted under the Chairmanship of Prof. M.K. Sridhar, Member UGC regarding issues related to the Accreditation of Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs).
3. The Committee under the Chairmanship of Prof.Surender Prasad, Former Chairman, NBA and Director IIT, Delhi constituted for Accreditation of HEIs (Rationalize the present system of recognition/accreditation and ranking by multiple agencies).
Director, NAAC