Hyderabad: Are the higher educational institutions in the State shying away from the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) grading? A perusal of the number of such graded institutions in the State indicates so.
While there are more than 2,000 higher educational institutions across the State, only 235 institutions have got NAAC grade. Of these, 13 are universities and 222 are colleges, as per the statistics available with the NAAC. Among the accredited institutions, 68 are Government Degree Colleges.
Across the country, a total of 8,530 institutions – 8,166 colleges and 364 universities – have been granted grade as per the information available on the NAAC website, With 1,743, Maharashtra has the highest number of higher educational institutions with a NAAC grade. Of the total institutions, 1,905 have NAAC ‘A’ grade, 5,625 have ‘B’ and 1,000 have ‘C’ grade.
The institutions going for the grading are evaluated in the areas-teaching-learning and evaluation, research and innovations and extension, infrastructure and learning resources, student support and progression, governance, leadership and management, and institutions values and best practices. Based on the performance in each aspect, the institutions are later awarded grades like A+, A, B++, B+, B, C and D.
These grades help the institutions know its strengths, weakness, and opportunities. They also help in attracting grants from the funding agencies besides companies for campus drives. One of the main reasons for the institutions not approaching the NAAC for a review was lack of admissions and required number of staff besides expertise to draft a plan for grading.
“Some colleges have been going for the NAAC accreditation in order to get funding besides to upgrade the college to autonomous or university status. The issue is with the colleges in rural areas, which are facing issues with admissions and faculty members. When there are meagre admissions and faculty, how can they go for the NAAC grading,” said a senior official of the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University-Hyderabad.
A senior official of the Telangana State Council of Higher Education (TSCHE) said the Council has been encouraging all the colleges in the State to go for NAAC grading.
“In fact, the Council has conducted several meetings and webinars for the colleges detailing the process and benefits of the NAAC grading. The college managements are also told that they will be given assistance for NAAC review,” the official said.
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