Govt works together to consolidate accreditation and rank

The National Board of Accreditation, or NBA, is responsible for accrediting technical education schools. While the National Assessment and Accreditation Council is authorized to accredit universities and colleges, the NAAC is the only authorized government agency. This body publishes the NIRF every year, which ranks higher-education institutions.

Bhushan Pawardhan (chairman of the Executive Committee of National Assessment and Accreditation Council), is the Minister of Education. He has created a committee to begin the process of creating one accreditation and ranking. This was one of the recommendations of National Education Policy 2020. (NAAC).

This announcement is significant as it follows the recent announcement by Jagadesh Kumar, chairman of UGC, that the JEE Main and NEET exams will be combined. AICTE will merge with UGC to create the Higher Education Commission of India (or HECI), a single and comprehensive higher education institution.

NEP 2020 states that the National Accreditation council should be created as a meta-accrediting body. (NAC). “Higher education Schools” are currently accredited by many independent organizations and systems. The National Board of Accreditation is responsible for technical programs, while the NAAC handles general or non-technical ones. According to sources, all Indian higher education institutions have been ranked by National Institute of Ranking Framework.

Sources claim that the NEP envisions the creation of a National Advisory Council (NAC), which will coordinate these bodies’ operations and align them with the NEP goals.

Patwardhan was the former vice-chairman for University Grants Commission. It also includes Indranil Mana (vice-chancellor of IIT Delhi), Surender Prasad, Dr. Manju Sing, Dr. K. N. Ganesh, Dr. J. Rao (vice-chancellor of UGC) and Dr. J. Rao. Rao and Dr. Singh will serve as the coordinator of the committee.

The six-member group will examine the NIRF ranking system as well as the process of NBA accreditation. The group will also create a framework to coordinate the three bodies in order to create the NAC.

According to the NEP, accreditation of institutions will be done on the basis of basic standards, public disclosure, and good governance. An independent network of institutions will be accredited by NAC. The NAC will be responsible for accrediting appropriate institutions.