Jul 26 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)
Autonomous NAAC to finally come out of UGC shadow
Hemali.Chhapia @timesgroup.com
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Mumbai:
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Outfit To Be Revamped, `Sanitized'
After dilly-dallying for six months, the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) has been pushed to start the process of autonomy .At NAAC's 66th executive council meeting, it was decided that the accreditation body for higher education institutions would snap ties with the University Grants Commission, thus ending UGC's two decade-long supremacy .
In the EC meeting that took place on Thursday , it was also decided that the HRD ministry will take NAAC under its wing. Currently , NAAC functions under UGC, but the ministry had, in a letter, bluntly asked the accreditation body and the regulator to keep each other at “an arm's length“. Despite that, there was enormous internal resistance from within NAAC.
The divorce will require NAAC to draw up new byelaws besides amending its memorandum of association. HRD ministry sources said that besides routine administrative changes, NAAC, whose inspections have been the subject of intense scrutiny and debate with allegations of favours taken and given, has to be revamped and “sanitized“. “After UGC made accred itation mandatory , the idea of making NAAC an independ ent body has been stressed up on in several meetings,“ an HRD ministry official said.
Across the world, such a sepa ration is the norm. “Yet, de spite several reminders, the ministry's suggestion was not being acted upon,“ he added.
Many in the HRD ministry blame UGC for NAAC's limited growth. Officials said the National Board of Accreditation, which grades technical courses, underwent a transformation “financially and functionally“ after it was sepa rated from the All India Coun cil for Technical Education.
For the full report, log on to http://www.timesofindia.com
In the EC meeting that took place on Thursday , it was also decided that the HRD ministry will take NAAC under its wing. Currently , NAAC functions under UGC, but the ministry had, in a letter, bluntly asked the accreditation body and the regulator to keep each other at “an arm's length“. Despite that, there was enormous internal resistance from within NAAC.
The divorce will require NAAC to draw up new byelaws besides amending its memorandum of association. HRD ministry sources said that besides routine administrative changes, NAAC, whose inspections have been the subject of intense scrutiny and debate with allegations of favours taken and given, has to be revamped and “sanitized“. “After UGC made accred itation mandatory , the idea of making NAAC an independ ent body has been stressed up on in several meetings,“ an HRD ministry official said.
Across the world, such a sepa ration is the norm. “Yet, de spite several reminders, the ministry's suggestion was not being acted upon,“ he added.
Many in the HRD ministry blame UGC for NAAC's limited growth. Officials said the National Board of Accreditation, which grades technical courses, underwent a transformation “financially and functionally“ after it was sepa rated from the All India Coun cil for Technical Education.
For the full report, log on to http://www.timesofindia.com
