THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state's own agency for assessment and accreditation of higher educational institutions is all set to begin its first round of campus visits to assess the quality of institutions imparting higher learning.
The State Assessment and Accreditation Centre (SAAC), which is the state equivalent of the all-India body NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditation Council), will assess as many as 15 institutions in the first phase. A peer team of SAAC will first visit Bishop Moore College, Mavaelikkara on September 23 and 24.
The peer team will be headed by former NAAC director Renganath H Anne Gouda. The other members are: MG University Vice-Chancellor Sabu Thomas, former chairman of Kerala State Council for Historical Research Michael Tharakan and former vice-chancellor of Calicut University Fathimathu Suhara.
"The main aim of SAAC is to equip higher educational institutions obtain high ranking in the NAAC accreditation process. Also, the assessment will be a precursor to the creation of a Kerala-specific ranking index for universities and colleges on the lines of the National Institutional Ranking Framework," said Rajan Varughese, member secretary, Kerala State Higher Education Council (KSHEC).
While seven out of 10 major parameters for assessment will be the same as those prescribed by NAAC, the other three will be state-specific criteria. This is to ensure that the institutions also function by incorporating academic and cultural elements that are unique to the state.
"The state was the pioneer in the country in setting up a state-level accreditation agency, as laid down in the UGC guidelines. Despite the delays owing to the pandemic, we are also the first to start the process of assessing the institutions. Many other states have modelled their state-level accreditation agencies on SAAC," Rajan Varughese added.