MINISTER OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (SMT. SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)
(a) & (b): Yes, Madam. As per the University Grants Commission (UGC) (Mandatory Assessment and Accreditation of Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2012, notified on 19th January, 2013, it is mandatory for each Higher Educational Institution to get accredited by an Accreditation Agency after passing out of two batches or six years, whichever is earlier, in accordance with the norms and methodology prescribed by such agency or the Commission, as the case may be. Further as per these Regulations, every Higher Educational Institution, which has completed six years of existence or two batches having passed out, whichever is earlier, is to apply within six months from the date of coming into force of these Regulations, to the Accreditation Agency, for accreditation. The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has notified similar regulations on 29th January, 2014.
According to the Regulations, the process of accreditation has been laid down for achieving the following objectives, namely: advancing academic quality; enabling students and other stakeholders to make informed choices with regard to Higher educational institutions; to facilitate Higher Educational Institutions to augment quality, by bench-marking uniform reference points pertaining to academic standards; to facilitate Higher Educational Institutions to acquire international recognition, cross-border and trans-national collaborations; etc. The regulations are available at http://www.ugc.ac.in/pdfnews/ 8541429_English.PDF.
(c) & (d): Yes, Madam. The National Board of Accreditation(NBA) is already conducting accreditation of technical programmes being offered by technical institutions. The UGC and AICTE Regulations recognize NBA as an ‘Assessment and Accreditation Agency’ for the purpose of undertaking accreditation. National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) does not undertake programme accreditation and does only institutional accreditation.
(e): Apart from making assessment and accreditation mandatory for higher educational institutions, the UGC has already laid down minimum standards of instruction for the grant of first degree, Master’s degree and M.Phil/Ph.D degree. It has also laid down minimum qualifications for the appointment of teachers and academic staff in Universities and Colleges. The UGC (Minimum qualifications for appointment of teaching staff in universities and colleges and measures for the maintenance of standards) Regulations, 2010 specify these minimum qualifications. The UGC has further laid down the UGC (Institutions Deemed to be Universities) Regulations, 2010 and UGC(Maintenance of Standards in Private Universities) Regulations, 2003 for maintaining standards in Deemed to be Universities and Private Universities respectively.
The UGC under its various schemes releases grants to universities and colleges to improve access and quality of higher education. The UGC has reported that it implements various schemes for improving the quality of higher education, such as Universities with Potential for Excellence (UPE), Colleges with Potential for Excellence (CPE), Special Assistance Programme (SAP), Assistance for Strengthening of Infrastructure for Science and Technology (ASIST), Assistance for Strengthening of Infrastructure for Humanities and Social Sciences, etc.
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