The
All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has notified regulations in
January, 2014 on the lines of UGC Regulations, 2012. As per the University
Grants Commission (Mandatory Assessment and Accreditation of Higher Educational
Institutions) Regulations, 2012, notified on 19th January, 2013, it
is mandatory for each Higher Educational Institution to get accredited by an
Accreditation Agency after passing out of two batches or six years, whichever
is earlier, in accordance with the norms and methodology prescribed by such
agency or the Commission, as the case may be. Further as per these Regulations,
every Higher Educational Institution, which has completed six years of
existence or two batches having passed out, whichever is earlier, is to apply within
six months from the date of coming into force of these Regulations, to the
Accreditation Agency, for accreditation.
According
to the Regulations, the process of accreditation has been laid down for
achieving the following objectives, namely: advancing academic quality;
enabling students and other stakeholders to make informed choices with regard
to Higher educational institutions; to facilitate Higher Educational
Institutions to augment quality, by bench-marking uniform reference points
pertaining to academic standards; to facilitate Higher Educational Institutions
to acquire international recognition, cross-border and trans-national
collaborations; etc. The regulations are available at http://www.ugc.ac.in/pdfnews/8541429_English.PDF.
The
National Board of Accreditation (NBA) is already conducting accreditation of
technical programmes being offered by technical institutions. The UGC and AICTE
Regulations recognize NBA as an ‘Assessment and Accreditation Agency’ for the
purpose of undertaking accreditation. National Assessment and Accreditation
Council (NAAC) does not undertake programme accreditation and does only
institutional accreditation.
Apart
from making assessment and accreditation mandatory for higher educational
institutions, the UGC has already laid down minimum
standards of instruction for the grant of first degree, Master’s degree and
M.Phil/Ph.D degree. It has also laid down minimum qualifications for the
appointment of teachers and academic staff in Universities and Colleges. The
UGC has further laid down the UGC(Institutions Deemed to be Universities)
Regulations, 2010 and UGC(Maintenance of Standards in Private Universities)
Regulations, 2003 for maintaining standards in Deemed to be Universities and
Private Universities respectively.
This
information was given by the Union HRD Minister Smt. Smriti Irani in a written
reply to a Lok Sabha question today.
MC/DS/RK/accreditation of educational
institutions