Accreditation Necessary for Higher Education Institutes: AICTE Chairman

Addressing the ‘National Conference on Indian Higher Education' organised by EPSI & APAI, the Chairman of All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Mr. Anil Dattaraya Sahasrabudhe emphasized on the importance of getting accreditation by either National Assessment & Accreditation Council (NAAC) or National Board of Accreditation (NBA) and urged all higher institutes of learning to get accredited by 2022.

He further added that publishing details of accreditation on official website of universities will become mandatory, so it is critical that higher educational institutes in India should kick start the process as soon as possible. Mr. Sahasrabudhe also informed that soon, it will become mandatory for colleges and universities to publish their accreditation status on their websites so that students and parents are aware of the infrastructural facilities available in the college before enrolment. At present, mere 15% institutes of higher learning are accredited, and the remaining 85% institutes do not have accreditation by either NBA or NAAC.

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This has resulted in student burning a hole in their pockets for their education; and yet not has a concrete degree at the end of their educational pursuits. Mr. Sahasrabudhe further asserted that accreditation all technical institutions should be made mandatory to encourage healthy competition amongst them, and increase the quality of higher education in India overall.

Colleges with good infrastructural facilities will get a accreditation for 6 years, while a college with moderate facilities will get accreditation for 3 years. And colleges that don’t meet with eligibility criteria like infrastructure, faculty quality, placement options and entrepreneurship records will not be accredited.

From the student's perspective too, studying in an accredited college is advantageous as students enrolled in NAAC accredited colleges are eligible for scholarship loans as well. In fact, Union HRD Minister, Mr Javadekar has also announced that institutions with NAAC grade of A++ and A+ will be empowered to offer 3-year UG degree programmes in an online mode, which will be treated at par with regular courses. Some top universties in India that have or have applied for NAAC accreditation include Jammu University, Guwahati University, Nagpur University, University of Mumbai, Osmania University & JNU etc.

Also Read:AICTE: NAAC-Affiliated Institutes to Become Autonomous

In addition, colleges and universities that opt out of the accreditation process will have to pay an enrolment fee of Rs. 1 Lakh. All these efforts are being initiated so that Indian higher education institutes can apply/ become eligible to be listed in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) and compete with global institutes in terms of quality in education.