Yes, I say so. It sounds a bit shocking, though! Let me explain. It is simple. To begin with, no institution runs or expected to run exactly on the NAAC or NBA benchmarked criteria. You don’t open the accreditation manual and start your college. In fact, most institutes come face-to-face with the criteria only when they open the SSR and SAR as part of an intent to prepare for the accreditation. Isn’t it?
NAAC however, demands continuous performance on its benchmarked criteria, key aspects and metrics of the past 5 years and NBA for 3 years, in most cases. Say, if you were not aware of the exact nature of the accreditation practice earlier, how would it be possible for you to meet the precise requirement? Am I sounding plausible? This often is the case. It becomes quite frustrating for the applying institutes who haplessly struggle to muster and create the data of the past 5 years?
Well, excuse me, I am not discussing most of the Central and State universities and colleges who are often bestowed a top grade, notwithstanding their poor research credentials, deficiencies in faculty and couldn’t careless attitude to implement an outcome-based education system. There are a numerous examples to this. On an optimistic note, I trust, in the buildup of transparency around, this subjective evaluation will soon diminish, if not extinguish.
It is not simple, as yet. A number of criteria spring-up, all of a sudden because someone thought that criteria ought to have been aligned to the national needs of diversity, life skills, social extension, OBE system etc. All fair. After all, systems and processes are meant to be reviewed and improved. However, to expect institutes to provide data of the past 5 years on a number of newly introduced changes is quite impracticable and unfair. Hello, are NAAC authorities, listening?
Hence the crux. If you decide to be 100% truthful in demonstrating your fitness for the NAAC accreditation or NBA accreditation, you better start preparations as early as 5 years for NAAC and 3 years for the NBA and document every activity, process, practice and initiative. Now, the moot question is, what do the institutes do which are long waiting-in-wings to go for accreditation? As an experienced consultant of NAAC and NBA accreditation in India, my suggestion to these institutes would be, to put in, at least 2 to 3 years preparations for the NAAC accreditation and 2 years for NBA before they apply. It should easily get these institutes close to 3.26 CGPA in NAAC and 3 years for NBA, provided a good work is done and documented during this period.
