Accreditation Edge

NBA ACCREDITATION DEADLINE DRAWING DANGEROUSLY CLOSE

AICTE made it mandatory for technical institutes such as Engineering, Management, Pharmacy etc. by publishing it in “Approval Process Handbook 2018-19” (a legal document) to have their 60% programs NBA accredited in next 4 years. It reiterated its resolve in the Handbook 2020-21 and warned that institutes failing to do so shall not be accorded Annual e-Approval by the AICTE. It is a warning institutes can’t afford to ignore. However, a mere 18% of institutes in the country have complied it so far; the remaining, still toying with the idea of whether to go for the NBA accreditation or give it a miss and perhaps, take a refuge behind COOVID-19. A large number of low quality institutes are not even fit to apply since they fail to meet the minimum laid down pre-requisites, called ‘Pre-qualifiers’.

A number of NBA consultants within and outside the government are backing this giant effort. In addition, government has initiated a scheme for the good quality institutes to mentor low quality institutes by funding them. However there is a dearth in top NBA Consultants in India due to the inclusive complexity of an “outcome-based education” (OBE) system, a very critical part of NBA Accreditation, coupled with a lack of desired will to immerse the system in the institutes. The OBE is a system that truly sucks in, a lot of time of the faculty and hence sufficiently hated by the said fraternity. Some of the best NBA consultants have largely simplified it. However, it still continues to bedevil, quite a few institutes.

Here are some of the most critical knowledge, information and tips for institutes to know and surge ahead to apply for the NBA accreditation and succeed, at all cost:
Most Essential Pre-qualifiers of NBA Accreditation which often colleges fail to meet:

  • Institute to ensure at least, two Profs or one Prof and one Associate Prof with PhD (regular faculty) for CAY and CAY minus-1 in each program of PGDM/MBA. 20% of total faculty should be PhD (Avg. of CAY and CAY-minus-1).
  • In case of Tier-1 and Tier-11 Engineering College, same rule applies as above except that, instead of program, it is per Department- a much relaxed inclusion.
  • Tier-1 Engineering colleges to have minimum of 60% Admissions of the sanctioned intake in the department and as well as in program slated to apply for. It is 50% for the tier-ii colleges (Average of 3 years)
  • Faculty to Students Ratio (FSR) must be equal or better than 1:25 (Average of 3 years). Min 20% PhD for tier-I and 10% for Tier-II (average of 2 years) is essential. Thanks to small mercies of the government that it revised the ratio to a realistic FSR target after decades of representations.
  • HOD must be a PhD.

Rarely known, and yet most critical information on NBA accreditation

  • NBA is inescapable for half of the total programs of all technical professional institutes under the AICTE before the year-2022. Institutes can lose their e-approvals. Institutes know half the truth and get only one program accredited to show their seriousness.
  • It is advantageous to submit SAR between 31 Aug to 30 Sep. This would allow institute to get a just completed Academic Year as CAY. After 30 Sep, running yea
    r becomes CAY and the data gets severely limited. Refer: “Faculty norms by NBA”.
  • You perhaps thought, you would only fill-in the numbers of faculty of the program, you intend to apply for. It is not so. NBA expects data of the entire department (all UG,PG programs) to be included in arriving at the FSR, Cadre ratio and for listing in qualifications etc.
  • In addition to the current batch, OBE criterion 10 requires you to have documented OBE-mandated assessment and evaluation culminating into attainment of Program Outcomes pertaining to at least, one full previous passed-out batch (comprising 4 years of engineering/3 years of degree/2 years of Management), relevant deductions drawn and taken action for all-round improvement. Institutes will otherwise, woefully struggle in this criterion. Only a top NBA Accreditation Consultant can truly tell you, how to handle this complex situation.

Lesser known NBA Norms by Institutes on who is to be counted as “faculty”

  • Your faculty must fall within the stated norms by the NBA for the purpose of SFR.
  • To be termed as ‘Regular faculty’, he/she should have joined before 31 Aug and remained on the strength of the institute till 30 Apr of the next year. If not, it won’t be counted towards SFR. It means that your institute must hire faculty before 31 Aug, every year, if it holds a plan to fill-in a faculty deficiency.
  • NBA has now reduced all kinds of faculty category to just two: ‘regular’ and ‘contract’. To be counted as ‘contract faculty’, the faculty should have taught in two consecutive semesters.
  • NBA has now reduced all kinds of faculty category to just two: ‘regular’ and ‘contract’. To be counted as ‘contract faculty’, the faculty should have taught in two consecutive semesters.
  • PhD numbers can be enhanced by the institute, taking contract faculty’s PhD, provided 75% is already counted from out of the regular faculty.

Concluding the above, it is to impress upon all eligible professional technical institutes under the AICTE to ginger up their Internal Quality Assurance Cell and go ahead with the NBA accreditation, and if required, do seek a mentoring only by a truly expert in NBA accreditation and get NBA accreditation done of at least 60% of the total programs by the year 2022, without taking a chance that AICTE might blink due to COVID-19 fallout. Notwithstanding AICTE regulation, NBA Accreditation , in any case shall be hugely useful in building superior credentials and positive perception of every accredited institute.