By Nafisa Khatooon –
The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) is set to conduct pan-India handholding programmes for HEIs to inspire non -accredited institutes, and universities for increased participation. This will drive institutes improve education and infrastructure quality.
Similar activities were conducted in several states earlier where 100 such handholding activities were conducted to help institutes upgrade and participate in NAAC activities.
“Two handholding programmes in each state and union territory to sensitize the institutions about the various stages of NAAC assessment and accreditation process, will take place in upcoming months. Through free workshops, hands-on training will be provided to principals, vice-chancellors, designated heads of the HEIs, wherein they will gain experience about the application formalities and documents to be submitted at the concerned portal,” says S C Sharma, director, NAAC.
NAAC’s trained assessors from respective states will act as resource persons to guide the participating HEIs and solve their queries. “In Uttar Pradesh, eight workshops are planned as the state has 8114 HEIs, and of this, only 614 institutes have NAAC grading. So, we need to motivate the 7500 remaining institutes to apply for NAAC accreditation. In all, six handholding activities are planned for Karnataka, Maharashtra, while, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh will have five workshops each,” says Sharma. NAAC officers in collaboration with Higher Education Department, State Level Quality Assurance Cells will propagate the knowledge on the latest NAAC’s Assessment and Accreditation (A &A ) process in the regional language for effective communication and goal achievement.
The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) is set to conduct pan-India handholding programmes for HEIs to inspire non -accredited institutes, and universities for increased participation. This will drive institutes improve education and infrastructure quality.
Similar activities were conducted in several states earlier where 100 such handholding activities were conducted to help institutes upgrade and participate in NAAC activities.
“Two handholding programmes in each state and union territory to sensitize the institutions about the various stages of NAAC assessment and accreditation process, will take place in upcoming months. Through free workshops, hands-on training will be provided to principals, vice-chancellors, designated heads of the HEIs, wherein they will gain experience about the application formalities and documents to be submitted at the concerned portal,” says S C Sharma, director, NAAC.
NAAC’s trained assessors from respective states will act as resource persons to guide the participating HEIs and solve their queries. “In Uttar Pradesh, eight workshops are planned as the state has 8114 HEIs, and of this, only 614 institutes have NAAC grading. So, we need to motivate the 7500 remaining institutes to apply for NAAC accreditation. In all, six handholding activities are planned for Karnataka, Maharashtra, while, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh will have five workshops each,” says Sharma. NAAC officers in collaboration with Higher Education Department, State Level Quality Assurance Cells will propagate the knowledge on the latest NAAC’s Assessment and Accreditation (A &A ) process in the regional language for effective communication and goal achievement.
NAAC accreditation data of HEIs (as on March 3, 2023)
| States /Union Territories | Number of handholding activities |
| Uttar Pradesh | 8 |
| Karnataka, Maharashtra | 6 for each |
| Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh,
Andhra Pradesh |
5 for each |
| West Bengal, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Gujarat | 4 for each |
| Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Odisha | 3 for each |
| Uttarakhand, Punjab, Jharkhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Assam | 2 for each |
| Remaining states | 1 for each |
| Total | 100 |
Source: AISHE data
Ladakh has three institutes and all are NAAC accredited. So, no such programme is designed for it. The last handholding was done in Nainital and Haridwar (Uttarakhand)in February 2023. It saw the participation of 146 institutes and as of now 23 HEIs have applied for the NAAC gradation process and the remaining would be applying soon in the coming days. “For the current phase, we are expecting at least one-fourth of the participants to apply for accreditation. This will improve the overall profile of HEIs leading to enhanced quality of higher education across the country.”
