'Colleges struggle with NAAC assessment due to high fees & norms'

LUCKNOW: Institutions in Uttar Pradesh are facing challenges in applying for assessment by the National Assessment Accreditation Council (NAAC) due to a lack of funds, a language barrier in filling out forms, and a complex form-filling system, according to teachers, principals, and heads of academic institutes.
These concerns were voiced in the presence of NAAC director Ganesan Kannabiran during a session on the ranking and accreditation of higher education institutes at the National Summit of Institutional Leaders 2024 held at Lucknow University.
During the event, the principal of a girls' degree college in Ambedkar Nagar said that the college does not have funds to build girls' toilets, let alone pay an evaluation fee of Rs 5 lakh to NAAC. In response, the NAAC director said that the council is coming up with a binary accreditation system that will eliminate the need for peer team visits to campuses, which is likely to reduce the evaluation fee.
Teachers also complained that the assessment form is very complex and can only be filled out in English, which is a challenge for colleges and universities that teach only Sanskrit or Hindi.
To this, Kannabiran said that NAAC will soon allow institutes to submit their reports in all major languages or provide a translation facility.
College teachers also expressed confusion about the new binary accreditation system, as they had prepared themselves for the old NAAC evaluation system.
However, Kannabiran assured them that institutes will initially be given the option to apply under either the old grading system or the new binary accreditation system.
Kannabiran encouraged teachers, principals, and heads of institutions to go for NAAC evaluation without stressing about their performance during the evaluation process.
Kannabiran said that something that is not measured is not managed well, and that the NAAC evaluation is the best way to measure an educational institute's progress.