Over 690 Universities, 34,000 Colleges Operating Without NAAC Accreditation, Says Education Ministry

As per information received from the UGC, out of the 1,113 universities and 43,796 colleges, NAAC has accredited 418 universities and 9,062 colleges.

The number of colleges operating without NAAC accreditation is 34,734.

At least 695 universities and over 34,000 colleges in India do not have accreditation from the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC). The data was shared by Union Minister of State for Education Subhas Sarkar in response to a written question in Lok Sabha.

"As per information received from the UGC, out of the 1,113 universities and 43,796 colleges, NAAC has accredited 418 universities and 9,062 colleges," he said.

"To bring all the educational institutions, universities and colleges under the accreditation system, NAAC has considerably reduced the fee structure for assessment and accreditation. The metrics and questions in the manual for self-study report for affiliated and constituent colleges have also been considerably reduced," Sarkar added.

The number of colleges operating without NAAC accreditation is 34,734, he said.

The new National Education Policy (NEP) envisions all higher educational institutions to aim, through their institutional development plans, to attain the highest level of accreditation over the next 15 years.

The accreditation of universities and colleges is done by the NAAC, an Inter-University Centre of the University Grants Commission (UGC). 

What is NAAC?

The National Assessment And Accreditation Council (NAAC) conducts assessment and accreditation of Higher Educational Institutions (HEI) such as colleges, universities or other recognized institutions to derive an understanding of the ‘Quality Status’ of the institution. NAAC evaluates the institutions for its conformance to the standards of quality in terms of its performance related to the educational processes and outcomes, curriculum coverage, teaching-learning processes, faculty, research, infrastructure, learning resources, organization, governance, financial well being and student services.

The vision of NAAC is To make quality the defining element of higher education in India through a combination of self and external quality evaluation, promotion and sustenance initiatives

Mission

• To arrange for periodic assessment and accreditation of institutions of higher education or units thereof, or specific academic programmes or projects.
• To stimulate the academic environment for the promotion of quality of teaching-learning and research in higher education institutions.
• To encourage self-evaluation, accountability, autonomy and innovations in higher education.
• To undertake quality-related research studies, consultancy and training programmes.
• To collaborate with other stakeholders of higher education for quality evaluation, promotion and sustenance.

(With inputs from PTI)