University rating council seeks system revamp

The National Assessment and Accreditation Council, which accredits and grades universities and colleges, is looking to revise its methodology at a time when it faces corruption charges and possible competition from the Indian Institutes of Technology, writes Basant Kumar Mohanty for The Telegraph India.

It has written to academics nationwide for advice on how to improve its assessment processes, started in 1994 and last upgraded in 2009. The council assesses institutions on the basis of their general courses, leaving the professional courses to be rated by the National Board of Accreditation.

The central government has received complaints that the council granted the ‘A’ grade in 2015 to certain private deemed universities that had been termed ‘unfit’ for the deemed university status by the higher education regulator the previous year. Disappointment at the council's functioning and a desire to lighten its load has led the Ministry of Human Resource Development to begin the process of authorising the Indian Institutes of Technology to assess higher education institutions, both general and technical.
Full report on The Telegraph India site