Over 160 colleges fail to score in Acad & Admin Audit

Lokmat News Network

By Mehboob Inamdar

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Serious questions have been raised over academic governance as more than 160 colleges within the jurisdiction of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University were awarded a zero grade in the Academic and Administrative Audit for 2025–26.

It may be noted that the university decided to conduct an AAA of 418 affiliated senior colleges. The audit aims to ensure that academic and administrative standards are met and that institutions continue to receive recognition through a structured evaluation system.

After the audit, the list of colleges with their grades based on the preliminary assessment was released last week. In the list, 160 colleges were accorded zero grade. The grading was determined based on various criteria, including basic infrastructure facilities, laboratories, qualified teachers and the principal.

Talking to this newspaper, Pro-Vice Chancellor of Bamu

Dr Walmik Sarwade said that the AAA is being conducted as per the norms of the University Act.

"The colleges were given an opportunity to submit objections to the grades announced. More than 90 colleges submitted their objections with supporting documents within the given deadline,” he said.

The Pro-VC said that those colleges which received no grade was given date to submit the clarification. “The final decision on their clarifications will be taken in the meeting of the concerned committee next week. The colleges which did not respond to the audit were issued notices seeking why their affiliation should not be cancelled,” Dr Sarwade said.

“The validity of each grade will be for three years. The colleges which did not receive any grade will be given one more opportunity to seek it,” he added.

Box

No of college---grade obtained

--1-----------------A-plus plus

--13---------------'A-plus'

--38---------------A

--201-------------B & C

--160-------------zero grade

--05 not responded

Box

AAA Committee

A separate committee is constituted for each college and department. It comprises a chairperson (a senior professor from a university department), one external expert (a senior professor from another university), and two internal experts (Senior faculty members from different disciplines). A committee is sent to each college for the inspection.

Box

Audit Process and Reporting

The AAA committee conducts a physical verification of the allotted institution. The committee will assign grades such as A , A , A, B , B, C, D and submit their report to the Central AAA Committee, which will review audit reports from various institutions and submit final recommendations to the Board of Deans (BoD). The BoD will evaluate these recommendations and forward them to the VC for final approval.

Box

Pc of marks---equivalent grade

90 –100-------- A

80-89 .99-------A

70-79.99--------A

60-69.99--------B

50-59.99--------B

40-49.99--------C

Less than 40--No Grade