Lok Sabha Question No. 3543 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-08-11
Subject: Accreditation of Higher Educational Institutes
Ministry: EDUCATION
Asked by: Thiru Dayanidhi Maran

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3543

ANSWERED ON 11/08/2025

## Accreditation of Higher Educational Institutes

3543. Thiru Dayanidhi Maran:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  any  irregularities  have  been  reported  against  Institutes  in  accreditation  by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) for securing high grades through unethical means and around 20% assessors have been removed from NAAC and if so, the details thereof;
- (b)  the  total  number of  Institutes failed  to  secure  the  ranking  during  the  last three  yerars, year-wise;
- (c)  the  steps  being  taken  by  the  Government  to  restore  public  trust  in  the  accreditation process and ensure transparent evaluation of higher educational institutions;
- (d) whether the Government has assessed the adverse impact of over-reliance on ranking system  and  citation-based  metrics,  especially  disciplines  like  Humanities  and  Social Sciences and if so, the details thereof;
- (e)  whether  the  Government  has  any  plans  to  introduce  peer-reviewed,  context-sensitive and discipline-specific assessment frameworks in place of metric-driven evaluations;
- (f) whether the Government has any plan to enhance public fund for higher education and reduce the regulatory dependence on rankings for grants, approvals and recognition; and
- (g) if so, the details thereof along with timelines and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (DR. SUKANTA MAJUMDAR)

- (a) National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) assesses and accredits Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) in its quality pursuits and grades them in different levels for their achievements.

Removal  or  addition  of  assessors  from  the  database  of  Assessors  is  a  routine process of NAAC. The peer Review system is continuously improved by adding members as per the requirements. The removal of 847 assessors from the database of Assessors is consequential  to  the  scrutiny  started  in  October  2023  based  on  the  set  procedures. Removal of the Assessors are due to one or more of the following reasons:

- o Assessors who were constantly declining acceptance of peer team visits.
- o Assessors who have done more visits as compared to other assessors.
- o Assessors who have not prepared and submitted the Peer Team Reports (PTRs) as per the requirements.  Incomplete entries in the Assessors database.
- o Based on feedback from fellow Assessors / HEIs

(b) National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranks institutions based on five broad parameters namely, Teaching Learning and Resources (TLR), Research and Professional Practice  (RP),  Graduate  Outcomes  (GO),  Outreach  and  Inclusivity  (OI)  and  Perception (PR). NIRF has ranked sixteen disciplines/ categories in the latest edition of India Rankings 2024. The ranks were announced in eight categories and eight subject domains. The NIRF provides  ranks  and  rank  bands  in  all  the  above  categories/disciplines.  The  ranks  are announced for Top 100 Institutions and rank bands from 101-150, 151-200 and 201-300 are also announced.

- (c)  NAAC  adopts  a  transparent,  stakeholder-driven  approach  in  developing  its  manuals, aiming to raise benchmarks in line with evolving higher education trends. Over the past six months, NAAC has significantly tightened its Assessment and Accreditation (A&A) protocols to ensure rigorous scrutiny and uphold the integrity of the evaluation process.
- (d)  The  General  Degree  Colleges,  State  Universities  and  Universities  are  ranked  under separate categories. The ranking methodology used to rank institutions  considers several parameters such as Citation based metrics, Student strength, Faculty student ratio, Faculty Qualification  and  Experience,  Number  of  Publications,  Placement  and  Higher  Studies, Median  Salary,  Students  Graduated,  Women  Diversity,  Regional  Diversity,  Economically and Socially Challenged students etc
- (e)  For  strengthening  the  Assessment  and  Accreditation  of  HEIs,  a  Committee  was constituted  under  the  Chairmanship  of  Dr.  K. Radhakrishnan,  Chairperson,  Board  of Governors, lndian lnstitute of Technology (llT) Kanpur & Chairperson, Standing Committee of  llT  Council.  This Committee has  considered  the  introduction  of strategic reforms consistent with the vision of the National Education Policy, 2020 and the need  for  adopting  a  simple,  trust-based,  objective  and  rationalized  system  for  approval, accreditation  and  ranking  of  HEIs  through  technology-driven  systems.  The  Executive Committee  of  NAAC  has  adopted  the  recommendations  of  the  Dr  Radhakrishnan's Committee report.

(f)  and (g) Various schemes/projects/programmes run by Ministry of Education have been aligned with NEP 2020. As far as Central Government is concerned, Budget allocation has constantly increased from the year 2021-22 to 2025-26 as given below:

| Year                             | 2021-22   | 2022-23     | 2023-24     | 2024-25     | 2025-26     |
|----------------------------------|-----------|-------------|-------------|-------------|-------------|
| Budget Allocation (Rs. in Crore) | 93,224.31 | 1,04,277.72 | 1,12,899.47 | 1,21,117.77 | 1,28,650.05 |

Regulatory framework of UGC made under the provisions of UGC Act, 1956 is for regulating the maintenance of standards and the co-ordination work or facilities in Universities.

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