Lok Sabha Question No. 3605 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2015-12-21
Subject: Accreditation of Institutions
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: PARVESH SAHIB SINGH, SANTOSH AHLAWAT, SUMEDHANAND SARASWATI, OM PRAKASH YADAV, JANARDAN SINGH SIGRIWAL

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3605 TO BE ANSWERED ON 21.12.2015

## Accreditation of Institutions

3605.

SHRI PARVESH SAHIB SINGH:

SHRIMATI SANTOSH AHLAWAT:

SHRI SUMEDHANAND SARSWATI:

SHRI OM PRAKASH YADAV:

SHRI JANARDAN SINGH SIGRIWAL:

Will the Minister of HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

(a)  whether  the  Government  has  been  formulating  a  New  Education  Policy  in  which accreditation of all educational institutions has been made mandatory in the country;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c)  whether  the  Government  also  proposes  to  introduce  an  accrediting  system  for  certain individual courses/ programmes offered by the colleges/ universities in the country; and

(d) if so, the details of the framework adopted to check and maintain the standard of education in the institutions of higher education in the country?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

## (SMT. SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)

(a) to (d): The Government has undertaken a collaborative, multi-stakeholder and multi-pronged consultation  process  for  formulating  the  New  Education  Policy  (NEP),  which  included  online, grassroots and national level thematic deliberations on the 33 identified themes. Out of these 33 themes, one of the themes under School Education is 'Schools standards, School assessment and School Management systems' wherein the discussion note states that there is a need to put in place a School Quality Assessment and Accreditation System to cover all aspects of school functioning, including  scholastic  and  co-scholastic  domains,  physical  infrastructure,  faculty  management, school  leadership,  learning  outcomes  and  satisfaction  of  pupils  and  their  parents/  guardians. Similarly,  under  Higher  Education,  the  theme  'Ranking  of  institutions  and  accreditations' underlines the concern on the poor performance of our Universities in World Ranking and Global ratings.

As per the University Grants Commission (UGC) (Mandatory Assessment and Accreditation  of  Higher  Educational  Institutions)  Regulations,  2012,  notified  on  19th  January, 2013, it is mandatory for each Higher Educational Institution to get accredited by an Accreditation Agency after passing out of two batches or six years, whichever is earlier, in accordance with the norms  and  methodology  prescribed  by  such  agency  or  the  Commission,  as  the  case  may  be. Further, every Higher Educational Institution, which has completed six years of existence or two batches having passed out, whichever is earlier, is to apply within six months from the date of coming into force of these Regulations, to the Accreditation Agency, for accreditation. The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has notified similar regulations on 29 th January, 2014.

According  to  the  Regulations,  the  process  of  accreditation  has  been  laid  down  for achieving the objectives of  advancing academic quality; enabling students and other stakeholders to  make  informed  choices  with  regard  to  Higher  educational  institutions;  to  facilitate  Higher Educational Institutions to augment quality, by bench-marking uniform reference points pertaining to  academic  standards;  to  facilitate  Higher  Educational  Institutions  to  acquire  international recognition, cross-border and trans-national collaborations, etc.

The  National  Board  of  Accreditation  (NBA)  is  already  conducting  accreditation  of technical  programmes being offered by  technical  institutions  whereas  National  Assessment  and Accreditation Council (NAAC) does institutional accreditation.

Apart  from  making  assessment  and  accreditation  mandatory  for  higher  educational institutions, the UGC has already laid down minimum standards of instruction for the grant of first degree,  Master's  degree  and  M.Phil/Ph.D  degree.  The  UGC  has  also  laid  down  minimum qualifications for the appointment of teachers and academic staff in Universities and Colleges. The UGC has further laid down the UGC (Institutions Deemed to be Universities) Regulations, 2010 and  UGC(Maintenance of Standards  in  Private  Universities)  Regulations,  2003  for  maintaining standards in Deemed to be Universities and Private Universities respectively.

Since the New Education Policy is still being evolved, conclusions would have to await its finalization.

***********