80 pc colleges reluctant to seek NAAC grade in A’bad division

Lokmat News Network

Aurangabad, Feb 9:

Nearly 80 per cent colleges within the jurisdiction of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University (Bamu) appear reluctant to seek a grade from National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC).

There are more 440 undergraduate and postgraduate traditional, professional courses colleges in Aurangabad, Jalna, Beed and Osmanabad districts which fall within the jurisdiction of Aurangabad division.

Of them, 110 colleges have obtained a grade from A to C during the NAAC inspection. Officers from the university said that 80 per cent institutes are reluctant because they do not have sufficient infrastructure, facilities like modern laboratories and libraries, approved full-time teachers and principals. They further said that the post of principals and teaching faculties are vacant for the past many years. Some of the colleges have low students strength.

“NAAC accreditation is a performance indicator for higher educational institutes and is mandatory for applying for funds from the Central Government Departments. Once accredited, the college needs to main quality until next cycle of assessment which not possible for all the institutes,” they said.

Management Council member Dr Rajesh Karpe said that there should be no compromise about the quality of education. “The colleges should go for accreditation. Also, the institutes which did not apply for their second and third cycle of NAAC during the last two years should be given more time,” he said. The members of the Academic Council in their meeting held a few weeks ago adopted a resolution to deny affiliation to the institutes which do not seek accreditation.

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Why does NAAC grade need?

The grade NAAC accreditation indicates the quality of a college, in terms of its education, research, faculty, infrastructure. The grade helps to instil confidence among students and get jobs. An accredited institute can attract more students and increase its admissions.

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Only aided colleges go for grade

Most of the institutes which obtained a NAAC grade are Government aided. The non-aided colleges specially professional collect fees as per the norms. If they seek a grade, they will have to spend money on facilities and pay

required salary to the teaching non-teaching staff members.

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NAAC suggests Govt for industries-academia linkage

The NAAC, in its recent analysis of higher education institutions (HEIs) submitted to the Governor and chancellor of the universities Bhagat Singh Koshyari suggesting measures to help HEIs survive. These include a liberalised policy for recruitment and free higher education for girls to boost gender equity. Universities can shift their role to facilitator and mentor than an administrator for affiliation. The council suggested that the State Government should ask industries to form linkages with educational academies.

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Distribution of weightages across key indicators

The assessment of any college or university is on the basis of the following key indicators;

--Curricular Aspects

--Teaching-learning & Evaluation

--Research, Innovations and Extension

--Infrastructure and Learning Resources

--Student Support and Progression

--Governance, Leadership and Management

--Institutional Values and Best Practices

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How a grade is calculated

Institutions are graded for each key aspect under four categories (A, B, C and D), denoting ‘Very Good, Good, Satisfactory and Unsatisfactory levels respectively. The Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA), which gives the final assessment outcome, is then calculated on the basis seven criteria (key indicators).

The grade on the basis of CGPA as follows;

CGPA Grade

3.51 - 4.00 A

3.26 - 3.50 A

3.01 - 3.25 A

2.76 - 3.00 B

251 - 2.75 B

2.01 - 2.50 B

1.51 - 2.00 C