After insisting on National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) grades for all colleges and universities, the Maharashtra government has now shifted focus to assessment by National Board of Accreditation (NBA) which specifically accredits technical programmes such as engineering and management courses. Joint-Directors at multiple divisions in the state will now head local committees to ensure NAAC or NBA accreditation of higher education institutions and courses from their jurisdiction.
A specialised committee has been formed under leadership of Prof Dr Karbhari Kale, Vice Chancellor of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University (BATU), which has jurisdiction and affiliated technology colleges across the state. A Government Resolution (GR) issued earlier this week declares formation of the committees.
This committee under BATU will prepare a roadmap to encourage NBA accreditation of technical courses across the state, along with identifying challenges and recommending resolutions. All joint-directors will be part of this panel who will in-turn work on the same plan of action for colleges offering technical courses from their jurisdiction.
Prof Dr Kale, explained, “BATU has jurisdiction to affiliate technology institutes across Maharashtra. However, currently there are colleges which are not affiliated to BATU. The divisional level joint-director led panels will ensure NBA accreditation of technical courses offered in such colleges from their respective areas.”
Considering the importance of NBA accreditation for technical courses, Maharashtra’s higher and technical education department has included three members to its committee working toward encouraging accreditation of higher education institutions.
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Last year, the state’s higher and technical education department launched an initiative titled Paris-Sparsh wherein colleges and universities across Maharashtra were encouraged to obtain NAAC accreditation. “The idea was to connect smaller non-accredited colleges to bigger and accredited colleges to learn ways to move ahead toward NAAC accreditation. A similar plan is expected for NBA accreditation of technical courses offered in various colleges in Maharashtra,” an official from Mantralaya said.
Before the beginning of the running academic year, NAAC accreditation was made mandatory for colleges to allow new admissions. After realising the challenges faced by colleges, the state has also suggested reforms to the NAAC process.
As per information shared by the office of higher and technical education minister of Maharashtra, Chandrakant Patil, students need to know about standards of higher education institutions before making a choice to ensure successful implementation of academic flexibility offered under the newly implemented National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. “The department’s insistence on NAAC/NBA accreditation is to ensure that students can make informed choices in selecting their courses,” said the official.
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