NAAC states it conducts transparent assessments of educational institutions

New Delhi: National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), the autonomous organisation under the University Grants Commission, stated that it is constantly upgrading and improving itself to make the evaluation and accreditation of educational institutions more transparent and professional.

The statement comes in the wake of NAAC President Bhushan Patvardhan's resignation due to allegations that some universities engaged in unethical behaviour in order to receive high grades.

Some serious allegations were raised by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council 'NAAC' chairman Bhushan Patvardhan. It has been alleged that some universities adopted the wrong methods for grading. Bhushan Patwardhan resigned from his post saying that his resignation would protect the 'sanctity of the post'.

Last month, Bhushan Patwardhan had written a few letters to the UGC chairman. In one of the letters, he alleged that 'suspicious grades' have been obtained in some higher educational institutions due to personal selfishness and corruption. He had also expressed his desire to resign from the post.

Now in an official communication, NAAC said that the selection of assessors as Peer Team members for qualitative assessment is based on four criteria. The first one is the type of higher educational institution (HEIS) to be accredited.

Second, the types of programs and courses offered under each program by HEIS.

Third, the constitution of the Peer Team panel generated by the coordinators in the system ensures the relevance of specialization of experts vis-A-vis HEIS. Fourth, acceptance of the invitation by the Peer Team experts.

NAAC director SC Sharma said that NAAC ensures that the Peer Team experts are not from the same state of HEIS. The NAAC also follows a due protocol for designating different portfolios of the Peer Team that is the Chairperson, Member Coordinator and Member(s). The experts have to give in writing a declaration on the code of conduct, ethical standards and no conflict of interest statement before proceeding on Peer Team visit.

NAAC officials said that the University Grants Commission has constituted committees to deal with the issues related to the Accreditation of Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs).