UGC takes steps to bring in more accreditation agencies, To set up Accreditation Advisory Council (AAC)

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has decided to set up an Accreditation Advisory Council (AAC) that will facilitate the commission to establish more accreditation agencies. Earlier, UGC has decided to bring in more accreditation and assessment agencies (AAAs) to speed up the process of accreditation of higher education institutes in India. On Thursday, UGC told the university vice-chancellors that:

“To enhance the existing capacity of accreditation for meeting the requirement of higher education institutes, it has been decided to allow more accreditation agencies to come into this sphere of activity.”

UGC has also notified a “University Grants Commission (Recognition and Monitoring of Assessment and Accreditation Agencies) Regulations-2018’, that has been published in the official gazette of India on August 20. This notification paves way for establishing government and semi-government accreditation and assessment agencies. The new Accreditation Advisory Council (AAC) will consist of not more than 10 members who are experts and have experience in the field of Higher Education and accreditation and assessment. Currently, the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) and the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) are responsible for the accreditation of educational institutes in India. A ‘Semi Government agency’ is an agency created by a Government agency having a majority stake in partnership with a private entity having at least five years of experience in the process of accreditation. According to a senior official from the HRD ministry, these regulations will be applicable for all the assessment and accreditation agencies (AAAs) that will come into effect following the notification of the regulation including the NAAC and NBA. A transparent and merit-based process will be followed by the council for the selection of the new agencies and registration of such agencies.