1. You should be having an effective IQAC and highly capable Steering Committee with a Chairman who enjoys a good rapport with various faculty and Management, and holds potential to inspire/engage Heads/Deans to own specific criteria, and who is able to consistently monitor the progress made by each key resource Head in his/her respective criteria to a level that grants ‘top grade’.
2. The Chairman and the members of the Steering Committee must be well-versed with the requirement of each criteria and capable of providing crystal clarity and support to the criteria owners in meeting the requirement. If a Chairman is doubtful and doesn’t involve himself/herself into every issue effecting accreditation, the outcomes are not going to be good.
3. You need a well-documented OBE System and its implementation for at least 2 to 3 years, particularly, an assessment and evaluation system. POs, PSOs and PEOS attainment record of at least one batch should be on record. Often, this is a major weakness in 90% institutes.
4. You need a team, capable of writing plagiarized-free, effective content of each criterion, aspect, metric most professionally, covering all aspects. Content should have been screened through ‘Turnitin’.
5. The Chairman of the Steering Committee must meet his team and Criteria owners as many times as needed to ensure consistent exchange of progress made on each criterion and address the gaps in preparations. If the Chairman is not able to draw Deans and Heads to the table, he is bound to fail.
6. A top NAAC consultant or NBA consultant at the outset, takes charge of the entire accreditation process, provides complete clarity in each metric/aspect, inspires as well as motivates faculty to perform their assigned tasks and assists steering committee to write SSR/SAR. He charters a plan and goes compellingly focused in attaining the desired goals. He is available 24X7 for any advice or guidance. The Chairman should be able to discharge the Consultant’s function. If Chairman is majorly occupied elsewhere with other important academic issues, he will not be able to deliver.
7. Institute should be able to carry out thorough academic audit, discern gaps and fill gaps in a time-bound manner.
8. Institute should be able to carry out a mock-test, a dry-run to plug gaps in the preparations.
9. There are a number of agencies who claim as ‘best NAAC consultants‘ and/or ‘best NBA consultants‘ in India. However, the real test lies in how many of them are truly great professionals with proven records. Well, if you have an inclusive expert, you are free to dispense with any external consultant. But if you feel, accreditation grade being critical, you need a consultant, ask him/her to visit your institute to give you initial briefing before you engage him/her.
10. The Steering Committee should be able to minutely check every small and major aspect of accreditation criteria requirement and remain abreast with the latest changes in the NAAC/NBA system.
Concluding, we recommend that never ever apply for accreditation, half-prepared or else low grade will stick with you for long years, impacting your admissions and brand equity.
