International consultations on ‘Quality Assurance in Higher Education’ would be held here on December 12 and 13.
This is to discuss the roles and responsibilities of the State Assessment and Accreditation Council which is to be set up by the Kerala State Higher Education Council (KSHEC), said a press release here on .
The two-day conference is being organised to ensure that the new accreditation body is “compatible with national and international norms”, and will see the participation of experts from national and international bodies. Some of them include key officials from bodies like National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), Bangalore; NVAO, The Hague, Netherlands; Commission for Academic Administration (CAA), Abu Dhabi, UAE and Quality Assessment and Accreditation Council, Sri Lanka.
The sessions will include paper presentations and discussions on the relevance of setting up accreditation councils, methods, models and tools of assessing quality in higher education; and international practices followed for the same.
The event is being organised against the backdrop of the National Accreditation Regulatory Authority for Higher Educational Institution Bill 2010 which has been introduced in Parliament. The Bill aims at improving quality of higher education in India. “If the Bill is adopted in Parliament, it will introduce a mandatory accreditation regime and will have wide-ranging implications for the higher education sector in India,” stated the release. Education Minister P K Abdu Rabb will inaugurate the event on December 12. KSHEC vice-chairman T P Sreenivasan and P Anvar Member Secretary will also be present.