The National Education Policy, 2020 (NEP-2020), has proposed the National Accreditation Council (NAC) as a meta-accrediting body. The University Grants Commission (UGC) has already appointed a committee to bring synergy between NAAC, the National Board of Accreditation (NBA), and theNational Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) to propose a common framework and a road map for NAC. The NEP-2020 envisages a stage-wise mechanism for granting graded autonomy to colleges and in the long run, accreditation will become a binary process. Accreditation of institutions will be based primarily on basic norms, public self-disclosure, good governance, and outcomes, and it will be carried out by an independent ecosystem of accrediting institutions, supervised and overseen by NAC. The license to function as an accreditor shall also be awarded by NAC to an appropriate number of institutions. In the short term, a robust system of graded accreditation needs to be established with specific benchmarks for all HEIs to achieve set levels of quality, self-governance, and autonomy. This will lead to several reforms in the Assessment and Accreditation (A&A) system. The recently released NAAC White Paper has proposed a road map in this direction.

Dr Bhushan Patwardhan, Chairman of the Executive Committee, NAAC has stated that it is necessary to generate more awareness about the proposed reforms, to assert the importance of accreditation, and ensure improvement of educational quality. He has emphasized that more HEIs should be encouraged to come forward for accreditation. The NAAC has taken steps to increase the number of accredited HEIs. Dr S.C. Sharma, Director NAAC, stated, “Today on the day auspicious of Vijaya Dashami, theNAAC has decided to establish a Handholding and Mentoring Cell (HMC) to encourage more HEIs to come forward for the A&A process.”

The NAAC has already issued a cautionary note warningthat some agencies or consultancy firms are approaching HEIs with proposals to help in getting them accreditation and simultaneously making various commitments and promises.

The Council has not authorized any agents or consultants for accreditation work. The NAAC expects that an institution must itself complete the preparation for accreditation and nottry to outsource it. HEIs are advised to avoid entertaining such unauthorized agents. Dr Patwardhan has urgently appealed that HEIs should desist from associating with such dubiousagents/consultancy services. They should take advantage of the authentic services provided by the NAAC-HMC initiative.

NAAC-HMC is expected toguideHEIs across the geographical area,especially from underserved remote areas. ThoseHEIscompleting at least two cycles of accreditation with consistently high grades (Mentor HEIs) may volunteer and participate in this initiative.Dr Sharma has appealed to and invited HEIs, especially non-accredited ones (Mentee HEIs) who need guidance and help, to register themselves by submitting an application in the prescribed format available on the NAAC website.

 For further information please contact

V. Lakshman

Senior Liaison Officer,  NAAC

080-23005222, 9880024881

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