NAAC accreditation: Addressing irregularities and implementing reforms for better quality education

The National Assessment and Accreditation Council is an autonomous body established by the University Grants Commission in 1994 to systematically assess and accredit the Higher Educational Institutions in India, with the objective of quality assurance and improvement in the quality of education. In the last 30 years, the NAAC accreditation system has undergone several revisions to address emerging challenges, incorporate global best practices, and enhance the credibility of the accreditation process. Progress in implementation of the proposed system The NAAC, in its meeting held on Jan. 27 2024, decided that the recommended reforms shall be implemented comprehensively before Dec. 2024, in two stages. As per the NAAC notification of 29 June 2024, it was stated that HEIs with valid accreditation as per the present RAF, whose validity expires between July 1 2024 and date of launch of Maturity Based Graded Levels, shall be extended for a maximum period of three months after the launch of the MBGL. Lack of clarity Though a lot of preparatory work seems to have been done by the NAAC to implement the new reformatory system, for some reason, documents like the details of Binary Accreditation Framework, procedures, manuals and so on have not yet been placed on the NAAC website.