NAC assessment of universities, colleges established for more than 5 years should be mandatory: UP Guv

Uttar Pradesh Governor and Chancellor of Universities, Anandiben Patel on Tuesday said that assessment by the National Assessment Centre (NAC) should be mandatory for all universities and colleges established for more than five years and strict penal action should be taken in the event of non-compliance.

Patel addressed a webinar on 'Improving the quality of NAC assessment and higher education', orgsed at Raj Bhavan.

If higher educational institutions have to get financial support from University Grants Commission, National Higher Education Campaign or any other institutions, then they will have to compulsorily get an assessment from NAC.

"At the time of COVID-19 pandemic, the responsibility of the state government towards universalising the quality of higher education has increased. Due to the rapid change in education, the use of technical resources will also be necessary for the sustained efforts for quality enhancement of higher education," said Patel.

The Governor said that in the present circumstances, special attention has to be paid to online teaching. The quality of education helps in the development of the nation. Therefore, one has to be aware of quality education.

"A clear guideline should be issued by the Ministry of Human Resource Development for affiliation of colleges. The university should be affiliated to a maximum of 300 colleges, while more than a thousand colleges are attached to each university, how can the vice-chancellor control in such a situation," said Patel.

She further added that unfortunately, no university has 100 per cent teachers. The Department of Higher Education and the University should seriously consider this.

"The Vice-Chancellor is appointed from the Raj Bhavan and the Registrar, Controller and Finance Officer are appointed by the Higher Education Department. In such a situation, a good relationship between universities and the higher education department is very important," said Patel.

While giving her views on the regulation of higher educational institutions, Anandiben Patel said that transparency and quality should be ensured in the selection of Principal Educational Administrators such as Vice-Chancellor, Registrar, Finance Officer and Controller of Examinations.

"For selection, the State Government and the University must follow the instructions of the University Grants Commission. The term of the Vice-Chancellor should be for five years. There should be a provision to continuously update the curriculum in three to four years," said Patel.

The Governor said that every university should have an Industry-Academic Cell to engage with industry, which should work to involve teachers and students in industry processes.

"None of the 20 state universities are in the 'A' grade. Only six universities are rated by the NAC orgzation. None of the 159 state colleges is in 'A' category, only 29 are rated, this is not an ideal situation.

( With inputs from ANI )