University Grants Commission, has an overarching and a powerful role to play in ensuring the highest quality of education and standards are defined, maintained and complied with in Higher Education Institutions in India. A brief introduction to this august body is given below. The NAAC is headquartered in the sprawling laws opposite the National Law School in Bengaluru.

To address concerns of quality and standardization in professional institutions, the National Policy on Education (NPE, 1986) and the Programme of Action (PoA, 1992) spelt out strategic plans for the policies, advocated the establishment of an independent National accreditation agency. Consequently, the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) was established in 1994 as an autonomous institution of the University Grants Commission (UGC) with its Head Quarter in Bengaluru. The mandate of NAAC as reflected in its vision statement is in making quality assurance an integral part of the functioning of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs).

The NATIONAL ASSESSMENT AND ACCREDITATION COUNCIL (NAAC) conducts assessment and accreditation of Higher Educational Institutions (HEI) such as colleges, universities or other recognised institutions to derive an understanding of the ‘Quality Status’ of the institution. NAAC evaluates the institutions for its conformance to the standards of quality in terms of its performance related to the educational processes and outcomes, curriculum coverage, teaching-learning processes, faculty, research, infrastructure, learning resources, organisation, governance, financial well being and student services.

Over the years NAAC has made tremendous impact in the Higher Education Institutes, as indicated by the sheer number of accreditations awarded – over 500 universities and 10392 colleges. In the academic year 2016-17 alone, 95 universities and 1546 colleges were accredited by NAAC. (source: NAAC Annual Report). Also, thanks to the individual state governments participating in the mission of the NAAC, the accreditation process has received a new level of meaning and importance, especially in terms of quality within the academia.

Source: NAAC website, internet and general sources.