According to a report released by the Higher Education Department on Thursday, May 25, Odisha is one of the states with the lowest coverage of higher education institutions accredited by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC). The report further states that 25 per cent of the total 1,024 colleges and seven public universities in the state are NAAC-accredited.
What do the statistics claim?
The state, although having a low accreditation, fares better than nine others including Kerala (20 per cent), Bihar (19 per cent), Chhattisgarh (17 per cent), Uttarakhand (14 per cent), Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh (both 13 per cent), Telangana (12 per cent), and Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan (both 8 per cent).
As per official statistics, of the 1,024 degree colleges and 15 universities in the state, 290 colleges and seven universities have been accredited by NAAC so far, largely in B and C grades.
Institutions claim NAAC accreditation has become more stringent
The NAAC grades of many of these institutions of the state expired way back in 2017 and the reassessment process has started only six months back and as per norms, universities or colleges that have completed six years of existence or had at least two batches of graduated students are required to apply for NAAC accreditation.
According to sources, the erstwhile process of evaluation has become more stringent as compared to the pre-COVID era. The colleges state that in the absence of faculty, the primary reason behind several bottlenecks in higher education, the institutes are finding it difficult to approach the council for evaluation.
In 2017, NAAC shifted to an online mode of evaluation.
Government's efforts
A NAAC grade is a prerequisite for applying for grants under the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) scheme. Officials said after the pandemic, the Odisha State Higher Educational Council has started facilitating the colleges and universities to acquire NAAC accreditation and participate in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranking in a planned manner.
The department is providing incentives to public educational institutions and faculty for getting accredited under NAAC and the accredited institutes are being provided higher grants compared to others.
