A new system of accreditation for all the Indian higher education institutions is likely to roll out by April 2024. This system will include two components – binary accreditation and maturity based graded accreditation. The purpose of these changes is to streamline the system for approval, accreditation and ranking of institutions, in order to make the process simple, objective and transparent and to integrate the inputs of stakeholders.

The implementation will take place in two stages. The binary system will begin first, which will replace the current practice of giving a score and a corresponding grade to an institution, instead of simply stating that the institution ‘is accredited’ or ‘not accredited’, The ‘not accredited’ group will be further divided into two categories – ‘awaiting accreditation’ which will mean that these institutions nearly meet the requirements but need improvement, and ‘not accredited’ will imply that they are far below the standards for accreditation.

In addition to this, a Maturity-Based Graded Accreditation (Level 1 to 5) will be introduced by end of the year.  Under this, the accredited institutions can improve  from level 1 to 5 based on certain parameters. This is to encourage accredited institutions to continuously improve and raise their quality bar. The institutions between level 1-4 will be accredited as Institutions with National Excellence and institutions who reach level 5 will be accredited as Institutions of Global Excellence for multi-disciplinary research and education.

A new digital platform will be used which will replace the existing paper-based system. The new process will help ensure data integrity and will have an in-built mechanism to cross-check data veracity. It will also help minimise physical visits by experts to institutions for data verification and provision will be in-built for heavy penalties in the event of providing wrong submissions.

India’s National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) is driving these reforms and have the primary responsibility for quality assurance of the Indian HEIs. It is set up as an autonomous body under the University Grants Commission of India.

British Council comments

Improving the quality of education is one of the key aims of India’s National Education Policy 2020 and in that respect, assessment and accreditation plays a significant role.  The proposed changes are expected to encourage on-boarding of most Indian HEIs to seek accreditation which is voluntary for institutions at present.  It would also enable the participating institutions to be supported by a rationalised based system to raise their quality standards and make them globally competitive.

The adoption of a binary accreditation system will make the system consistent with  best practices followed by many leading countries in the world and help in setting up institutional collaborations far more efficiently. For example, accreditation would help facilitate credit transfer and recognition of degrees between partnering institutions.

Additionally, institutes that are accredited can mobilise funding from government programmes and funding agencies which consider this to be an important criterion giving them some leg room to enter into innovative academic and research partnerships.

The new metrics for accreditation focuses on processes, outcomes and impact rather than inputs. According to the education authorities, the new process will consider heterogeneity of HEIs in the country, categorise them based on their orientation/vision and heritage/legacy, and then seek information from the HEIs that are appropriate for their category rather than a one-size-fits-all model. There will be a special focus on rural and remote location institutions through mentoring and handholding.

It is also recommended that the Indian Institute of Technology are brought under a unified accreditation process which have been following their own internal systems for periodic evaluation and assessment of their programmes. It will only be clear if they would be mandated once the implementation of the new changes commence.

From UK institutions’ perspective, paying attention to the accreditation status of Indian HEIs will help to provide useful context when considering potential partnerships, especially once the graded accreditation system is operational.

Useful links

http://naac.gov.in/index.php/en/

http://naac.gov.in/images/docs/NAAC-Major_Reforms_in_Accreditation-Press_Release-27January_2024.pdf

https://indianexpress.com/article/education/govt-plans-accreditation-system-overhaul-for-higher-edu-institutes-by-december-9130833/

https://www.livemint.com/education/news/higher-education-institutions-to-be-assessed-under-binary-accredition-system-grading-system-to-go-naac-11706431841741.html