695 varsities, 34K colleges care a damn for NAAC accreditation

A whopping 695 universities and 34,000 colleges across the country are operating without National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) accreditation.

NAAC accreditation is mandatory for all higher learning institutes, particularly state Universities. Without NAAC accreditation and ranking, Universities are not eligible for University Grants Commission (UGC) grants, RUSA grants, financial aid etc.

Yet, about 700 universities are 34,000 colleges across the country are functioning without NAAC accreditation. This shows the poor education standards in the country.

A couple of days ago, UGC provided the information to Parliament about the universities and colleges being operated without NAAC accreditation.

NAAC certification is a measure to evaluate and then guarantee a standard of education provided in higher institutions across the nation. The UGC has issued a decree stipulating that every university and faculty must get certification by NAAC.

In response to a written question in Lok Sabha, Union Minister of State for Education Subhas Sarkar said, “As per information received from the UGC, out of the 1,113 universities and 43,796 colleges, NAAC has accredited 418 universities and 9,062 colleges”. “To bring all the educational institutions, universities and colleges under the accreditation system, NAAC has considerably reduced the fee structure for assessment and accreditation. The metrics and questions in the manual for self-study report for affiliated and constituent colleges have also been considerably reduced,” Sarkar told the Lok Sabha.