From the Director's Desk

NAACs Roadmap for the XI Plan............

Dear Readers,

I am completing my term as the Director, NAAC on 6th February 2008. I wish to put on record my deepest gratitude and thanks for the support extended by all of you during my tenure as the Director, NAAC.
I look forward to continued association with you in future
Planning is a prelude to rational action and this is true for individuals, institutions as well as Nations. Based on the experience of last 12 to 13 years of its operations, and keeping in view the future expectations of stakeholders, the NAAC has developed and initiated its Roadmap for the XI Plan, from the 1st of April 2007. I am happy to share the salient features of the Perspective Plan of NAAC with all the stakeholders of higher education through these columns of NAAC News. This Perspective Plan is the result of diverse and varied experience of NAAC through the years.

Broadly the NAAC would focus on the following activities during the XI Plan:
1. Development of a New Assessment and Accreditation Methodology.
2. Assessment to cover all higher education institutions of the country, in a phased manner.
3. Promotion of internal quality assurance systems in HEIs.
4. Dissemination of best practices amongst HEIs.
5. Development of a pool of trained quality assurance professionals
6. Promotion of ‘ in house’ Research on Quality Assurance and
7. Capacity building of NAAC

Let me briefly elaborate on these seven initiatives:

1. Development of a New Assessment and Accreditation Methodology
Based on extensive discussions with all the stakeholders of higher education, the NAAC has developed and implemented a new assessment and accreditation methodology with effect from 1st April 2007. The main objectives of this new methodology are
: _ To ensure continuous/need-based improvements in the instruments of A/A
_ To overcome some of the limitations of the methodology in practice hitherto
_ To enhance the credibility and reliability of the assessment process and outcome
_ To enable NAAC to conduct assessment of large number of institutions effectively and in a short time.
The important features of this new methodology are:
_ A two-step approach is introduced for the assessment and accreditation of Affiliated and Constituent colleges which are seeking A/A for the first time:
Step 1: is the determination of the Institutional Eligibility for Quality Assessment (IEQA) and
Step 2: is the Assessment and Accreditation of institutions which have earned their IEQA status.

_ Fine-tuning of Criteria, Key Aspects and development of Assessment Indicators as guidelines/probes for assessment.
_ Provision for Key Aspect-wise differential weightages for effective measurement of Key Aspect-wise and Criterionwise quality profile of the institution.
_ Changing the grading pattern from the earlier nine-point scale to the new three letter grades viz. “A”, “ B”, and “C” for accredited institutions and “D” for those which are not accredited.
_ Modification in the institutional overall scoring from the earlier percentage to the Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) system on a four-point scale
_ Development of a specific format for Peer Team Report, to elicit focused and evaluative judgments on the institutional quality.

I am sure that the new instrument of assessment will enable assessors to measure the quality of institutions in a better perspective, and the adjudication will focus on right things and rightly too. (For More details on new methodology visit NAAC website and see other feature columns in this NAAC News).

2. Assessment of large number of institutions
As on 31st March 2007, NAAC has assessed 140 university level institutions and 3,492 colleges. We have earned the distinction of having covered the highest number of institutions by any Quality Assurance Agency in the World. It is increasingly realized by the stakeholders that NAAC assessment contributes greatly to quality improvement. In spite of this, large number of institutions of the country are yet to be assessed and accredited. It is expected that by the two-step approach of assessment of Affiliated/Constituent colleges, and with the support of National Agencies and State higher education Departments, all the higher education institutions of the country can be assessed during the XI Plan period. To address the onerous task of assessment of large number of HEIs, NAAC is Networking with other Quality Assurance Agencies, besides making strong attempts at capacity building of NAAC and validation of assessment by select agencies.

3. Promotion of internal quality assurance systems
The NAAC envisages to usher in continuous quality in HEIs through a combination of internal and external quality assurance practices. NAAC strongly believes that ultimately, efficient Internal systems of quality assurance alone can sustain the quality of any institution. The NAAC has developed detailed guidelines and action points for the functioning of Institutional Internal Quality Assurance Cells. As on date, over 50 percent of accredited institutions have established IQACs. It is envisaged that during the XI Plan, every HEI (accredited or otherwise) will be motivated by NAAC, to initiate systems for internal quality assurance systems.

4. Dissemination of Best Practices
The NAAC has been bringing out series of publications on Best Practices, with the hope that institutions can learn and benefit from each others’ success stories and experiences. In the context of India’s institutional diversity, institutions may have to emulate the best practices of other institutions, contextualize them to their individual situation and add value to their existing practices. There is some truth in the saying that ‘best practices are the borrowed practices’. Therefore, NAAC advocates that sharing of best practices as an important approach to quality improvement

. 5. Development of trained quality assurance professionals
The Peer Teams play an important role in the assessment of institutional quality. It is a judgemental activity which requires sharp skills of evaluation and greater objectivity in measurement. Professional skill-based selection of assessors, is essential to ensure credibility to the NAAC operations. Therefore, NAAC proposes to focus on developing a pool of trained quality assurance professionals, to ensure greater stakeholder confidence and acceptability of the NAAC’s Accreditation outcome.

6. NAAC Research Activities
Focused research on quality assurance contributes to the better understanding of complex and diverse realities of higher education. Under its Quality Assurance Resource Centre, NAAC has established a Research Unit to undertake focused research on quality assurance and related areas of study. This unit along with another important unit - the Publications Unit would focus on Quality Assurance as a research, development and promotional activity of NAAC.

7. Capacity Building of NAAC
To undertake newer tasks as above, it is also necessary to reengineer the organisational structure of NAAC. It is hoped that NAAC would be strengthened with more autonomy, more professional staff and state-of-the art use of ICT, to take up the new responsibilities. I am indeed happy to record my appreciation for the support extended by the MHRD and the UGC for creating an enviable new campus facility for NAAC, which has provided adequate physical facilities of international standard.

I take this opportunity to express my grateful thanks to Prof. Sukhadeo Thorat, Chairman, UGC and President, General Council, NAAC, and Prof. Goverdhan Mehta, Chairman, EC NAAC for their leadership in the preparation of the NAAC Roadmap for the XI Plan and in the development of the new methodology of assessment and accreditation. My colleagues – Senior Consultants, Academic staff and support staff all have contributed significantly to the development of the redesigne methodologies. My sincere thanks to all of them. I hope that all higher education institutions will actively participate and co-operate in the NAAC’s vision and task of ‘Ensuring Quality through Quality Assessment’.

V. S. Prasad,Retired on 6th February, 2008