A Comparative Study on Research Performance of Indian Universities with NAAC A++ grade Accreditation
Authors: Aithal P. S. , Aithal Shubhrajyotsna 
Published: June 2021

Background/Purpose: Developing and Maintaining quality in higher education is an essential aspect of the sustainability of universities. National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), India has developed a new model of HEIs assessment and accreditation from July 2017. Based on its assessment, NAAC announces the final result in the form of Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) between 0 to 4.0, which is a combination of evaluation of qualitative and quantitative metrics with three parts including peer team report, graphical representation based on quantitative metric, and institutional grade sheet. Out of more than 380 universities assessment out of about 950 universities as on 30/042021, only 9 universities have been graded as A++ letter grade by NAAC. Objectives: Study on Criteria wise performance of top nine A++ scored Indian Universities according to NAAC Accreditation, full scores obtained in various criteria with reasons, compare research performance and analyse it using ABC model of research productivity, the effect of organizational leaders as role models on the research output, and to critically analyse the organizational SWOC based on NAAC data and outcome. Design/Methodology/Approach: Analysis of information collected from self-study reports of NAAC A++ graded universities, comparing and analyzing criteria wise, and analyzing research productivity of these universities and their leaders using ABC model of annual Research performance framework. Findings/Result: Out of nine NAAC A++ graded universities, five universities got full scores in the Curricular Aspects criterion. The universities are ranked based on their overall scores in the accreditation process. Based on the scores obtained in different criteria, the strengths and weaknesses of these universities are studied. These nine universities are further ranked based on their annual research performance and the leaders/Vice-chancellors research annual research productivity by considering the last five years research productivity. It is observed that many vice-chancellors failed to contribute to universities research outcomes as role models and motivators to other researchers of these universities. A comparative study on research performance-based grading is found to be ambiguous and little disparity is observed on key indicator-based university grading. Based on observations, some general recommendations are suggested. Research limitations/implications: This study used the data from the Self-study Report, Peer Team Report, and Grade Report of respective universities kept for public reference in the NAAC website in accordance with the new accreditation framework, downloaded on 30/04/2021. Originality/Value: This paper compares the research performance of nine NAAC A++ accredited universities of India using their last 5 years’ research data and identifies the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges of these universities for further improvement. Paper Type: Explorative Research based on research analysis.