Who’ll grade NAAC?: Complaints of wrongdoing have piled up too high. UGC & education ministry must step in

Source: The post is based on an article “Who’ll grade NAAC?: Complaints of wrongdoing have piled up too high. UGC & education ministry must step in” published in The Times of India on 21st March 2023. 

Syllabus: GS 2 – Issues Related to Education System  

Relevance: problems with National Assessment and Accreditation Committee (NAAC). 

News:  The article discusses the problems associated with the National Assessment and Accreditation Committee (NAAC). 

What is NAAC? 

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What are the problems with NAAC? 

There have been complaints about its accreditation system, i.e., they are unreliable and corrupted. For example, a private university has received the highest achievable grade within just over a few years of establishment. 

Further, accreditation is granted to institutions for the papers they claim to have published without questioning them about the linkages between their research and industry. 

No verifications are made for the patents won by the institutions, or about the creation of new products/procedures claimed by the institutions. It assesses outcomes poorly.  

The Joreel committee has also drawn attention to the fact that NAAC depends on institutional processes for assessment rather than using scientific methods to validate the data. Hence, NAAC is adopting opacity in its system of accreditation. 

Must Read: The controversy over NAAC’s system for assessing higher education 

What can be the course of action? 

The education system is about to undergo a rapid transformation due to the advancement of AI and other technologies. Thus, it is necessary to evaluate the universities properly before granting them accreditation. 

UGC and the education ministry must step in to check the corruption involved in the accreditation system.