The author, Dr. R.K.Behera, is Vice-Principal of MGM College, Dimapur, Nagaland.
The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) is set to introduce a new binary accreditation system for higher education institutions. This system will classify colleges and universities as either accredited or not accredited, replacing the existing multi-tiered grading system. This new system aims to simplify the accreditation process, making it more transparent and efficient. The binary approach is expected to streamline the assessment of educational standards and enhance the credibility of accreditation. Peer teams will not physically visit the institutions as part of the assessment under this accreditation system. Institutions will be assessed based on a Maturity-Based Graded Accreditation (MBGA) system composed of levels 1 through 5. Levels 1 to 4 signifies Institutions of National Excellence. Level 5 signifies Institutions of Global Excellence for Multi-Disciplinary Research and Education. Maturity-Based Graded Accreditation (Level 1 to 5) to encourage accredited Institutions to raise their bar, continuously improve, evolve in-depth or in-breadth in disciplines from ‘Level 1’ to ‘Level 4’ as Institutions of National Excellence, and then to ‘Level-5’ i.e. Institutions of Global Excellence for Multi-Disciplinary Research and Education. The leveled accreditation shall enable institutions to significantly improve their quality and position themselves among global top institutions. The binary accreditation system of NAAC is a straightforward approach to categorizing institutions based on their adherence to quality standards. It plays a crucial role in enhancing the overall quality of higher education in India by encouraging institutions to continuously improve and maintain high standards.
Quality of higher education has been one of the important dimensions of NEP 2020. To make significant improvements in the quality of education, the Dr. Radhakrishnan Committee on transformative reforms in Accreditation, approved by the Ministry of Education, Government of India, made several key recommendations. Based on these recommendations, the Executive Committee of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) has proposed launching reforms in two phases: Binary Accreditation and Maturity-Based Graded Levels. The Binary framework is drawn from the 10 Attributes proposed by the Dr. Radhakrishnan Committee. The Attributes are further classified based on Input, Process and Outcome dimensions essential for achieving quality assurance in higher education. The important change in the proposed framework is to focus on “Outcome and its Impact” on the contribution of higher education towards socio-economic development of the nation. The framework is suitably configured to accommodate the requirements of Universities, Autonomous colleges and Affiliated colleges. In addition, the framework captures the uniqueness of institutions that have impacted the specific stakeholders group. The Framework incorporates the situation of rural and remote location institutions, which may be located in Aspirational Districts across the country. Here the framework is expected to take less cycle time, less accreditation fee and most importantly avoids physical peer team visits to the institutions as part of assessment. Also, the data validation which is largely quantitative, will be carried out by peer institutions to ensure objectivity and correctness of assessment. The tentative framework of 10 Attributes includes 59 metrics for universities, 56 for autonomous colleges, and 46 for affiliated colleges.
The following can be applied for the outcome of the accreditation status.
- If the institution gets more than 2.00 CGPA then the outcome will be “Accredited”.
- If the institution gets more than 1.50 CGPA and less than 2.00 CGPA then the outcome will be “Provisionally Accredited”.
- If the institution gets less than 1.50 CGPA then the outcome will be “Not Accredited”.
The CGPA of the institution will not be reflected in the Certificate.
– Dr.R.K.Behera, MGM College
(The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and does not necessarily reflect those of Nagaland Tribune.)
