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Panjab University’s NAAC grade expires on Friday, no clarity on next visit
The current National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) grade of Panjab University (PU) will expire on Friday (June 24) with no clarity on the next visit of NAAC for accreditation.
The current National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) grade of Panjab University (PU) will expire on Friday (June 24) with no clarity on the next visit of NAAC for accreditation.
Although the process of compiling the self-study report (SSR) has been initiated by the university, it has been significantly delayed. The SSR submission is mandatory before the NAAC team visits the campus for another round of evaluation.
The University Grants Commission (UGC) through a gazette notification in 2013 made it mandatory for Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) to undergo accreditation. During the last visit, which was held in 2015, NAAC had given the university an A-grade with a comprehensive score of 3.35 out of four. The current NAAC accreditation of PU will expire on June 24. Usually, all universities and institutes affiliated with the UGC reapply to continue their affiliations before the previous affiliation lapses.
Mandatory for some funds
NAAC accreditation is a performance indicator for higher educational institutes and is mandatory for applying for funds from Central agencies. A PU senator, who did not wish to be named, said, “The NAAC grade defines the quality of education thereby attracting students to the institution as these are considered by the students seeking admission. Furthermore, these are criteria/eligibility for funding agencies for some of the major grants and programmes.”
Even for the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) grant, NAAC grade ‘A’ is the eligibility criteria.
Commenting on the possible impact, former PU VC Arun Kumar Grover, said, “In 2015, there was a delay in the release of the grade by NAAC even after the review had been done timely. PU had no NAAC grade for about six months and during that period the government had invited certain proposals regarding some funding but our application was rejected because we had no valid NAAC score.”
“When there is competitive evaluation of proposals submitted by the universities, in absence of a valid NAAC score, the application may be rejected,” he added.
PUTA president Mritunjay Kumar said, “Inordinate delay in the NAAC visit is the cause of concern for all of us. Only authorities could better explain why the university has not been able to re-apply timely. The university should ensure that the funding and research proposal of the faculty members should not be affected by this gap.”
No response from PU
While Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) director Sanjeev Sharma was not available for comments on the matter, no response was received to a query sent to PU’s official spokesperson Gaurav Gaur. According to procedure laid down by NAAC, the Institutional Information for Quality Assessment (IIQA) is to be submitted prior to the submission of the SSR. The IIQA is a process that ascertains whether an institution is “accreditation ready” or not. The SSR is submitted 45 days from IIQA acceptance.
