NAAC extends accreditation validity; relief for universities

NAAC extends accreditation validity; relief for universities

12.11.2025

 Ahmedabad : The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) has granted a one year extension to higher education institutions whose accreditation expired last year, ensuring that their grades remain valid until a new evaluation framework is implemented. The UGC had announced in 2023 that the NAAC system would be overhauled, replacing the existing letter-grade format (A, B, C) with a simpler classification indicating whether an institution is accredited or not.

The commission had also stated that detailed regulations aligned with the new structure would follow soon. However, with no formal notification issued so far, universities that had waited for the revised guidelines found themselves operating with lapsed accreditation. Others postponed submitting fresh applications altogether, anticipating the new system. The Union ministry of education has now instructed all public universities to complete their accreditation under the existing NAAC framework until further notice. Officials said this would prevent administrative uncertainty. TNN

KGMU intensifies preps for NAAC evaluation EYES A++ GRADE

KGMU intensifies preps for NAAC evaluation EYES A++ GRADE

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 27.07.2025

Lucknow : KGMU is going all out on its mission to secure a higher grade in the upcoming assessment by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC). The NAAC peer team is scheduled to visit the university for a threeday inspection from July 31 to Aug 2. 

Having received an ‘A+’ grade in 2023, the university reapplied with the objective of improving its overall score and getting A++ (the top grade). According to the officials, vice chancellor Prof Soniya Nityanand is supervising the preparations, with all clinical and non-clinical departments aligning their work with the assessment framework. Mock presentations are being conducted across departments to highlight various aspects of institutional functioning. NAAC assesses higher education institutions on seven key criteria: teaching-learning and evaluation; research, innovations, and extension; infrastructure and learning resources; student support and progression; governance, leadership and management; and institutional values and best practices.

In its previous assessment, KGMU received lower scores in areas related to student activities and placement outcomes. The university also faced difficulties in presenting its research data comprehensively. Steps have since been taken to address these gaps. KGMU comprises 149 buildings, 77 departments and over 4,000 hospital beds. It has a workforce of more than 550 faculty members, 800 resident doctors and approximately 10,000 other staff members. To support its operations and academic initiatives, the Uttar Pradesh govt allocated Rs 1,843.7 crore to the university in this year’s budget. “Ahead of the NAAC visit, the university has worked to compile its research documentation and improve student-related activities. Efforts are focused on presenting these developments clearly during the assessment,” said a senior official.

NAAC may remove 1,200 more assessors to ensure transparency

NAAC may remove 1,200 more assessors to ensure transparency

AI-technology integrated robust accreditation process will be introduced soon

Sonal.Srivastava@timesofindia.com 21.04.2025

The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), which has faced corruption allegations in the past, may remove an additional 1,200 assessors and revise the eligibility criteria to introduce a leakproof, transparent accreditation process.

It would mandate that assessors be recommended by the head of an institution, among other eligibility criteria. In February, NAAC expelled 800 assessors after allegations of corruption surfaced in the grading process following a tip-off from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). On April 14, the Supreme Court (SC) sought a response from the Union education ministry, UGC, and NAAC on the measures taken to ensure fair and transparent grading. 

Anil Sahasrabudhe, chairman, EC NAAC, says that a 10-member committee was tasked with reviewing 5,000 assessors to stem the rot. “A 10-member committee was asked to scrutinise all 5,000 experts, and they have further suggested the removal of about 1,200 of them. It is a bigticket change, which is already underway,” he says. NAAC also plans to revise the eligibility criteria for appointing assessors. Previously, appli cations were invited through the NAAC portal, and the minimum requirement was being a professor with at least five years of experience. 

“Now, a recommendation from the head of the institution may be included as part of the eligibility criteria. If the recommended person is later found to lack credibility or is involved in wrongdoing, the endorser will also be subject to scrutiny, hence, no one will take the recommendationlightly,” says Prof Sahasrabudhe. The 10-member committee scrutinising assessors includes members from different domains, who have been gathering information from principals, vice-chancellors, and other sources, on the authenticity of assessors and the institutions they assess. 

The accreditation council adopted the recommendations made by the Radhakrishnan Committee to ensure transparency. The Radhakrishnan Committee made two critical suggestions in the report submitted in 2024 — eliminating grades and introducing a binary accreditation system, that is, basic accreditation for all institutions, followed by a Maturity-Based Graded Accreditation (MBGA) for wellperforming institutions. “MBGA and BAS will be launched after the system is cleaned up. For now, NAAC carefully re-evaluates cases that raise the slightest suspicion against assessors and institutions. For instance, if an institution gets a much higher grade when applying for the first time, it becomes a case for suspicion, on scrutiny and re-evaluation, grades are reduced for such institutions.” 

When an institution undergoes the accreditation process for the first time, it is referred to as cycle 1 and the consecutive five-year periods as cycles 2 and 3. Suspicion arises when an institution suddenly jumps more than two grades compared to the previous cycle. 

Institutions are required to submit data, which is verified by NAAC and is used to generate a score. This score must tally with the score from the actual site visit to the institution. If there is a difference of more than 30%, then one of the two scores must be inaccurate, prompting further action. Reliable institutes usually have scores that closely align in both versions.

 “Among all the institutions NAAC reviewed, about half continued to receive the same grade, with only minor variations in their scores. However, some HEIs received one or two grades lower,” says Sahasrabudhe, adding that the government is working towards building a more robust accreditation process using AI technology but that it will take time.

Apex court issues notice on PIL questioning NAAC functioning

Apex court issues notice on PIL questioning NAAC functioning 

‘Working Is Marred By Corruption And Lack Of Transparency’

AmitAnand.Choudhary@timesofindia.com 10.04.2025

New Delhi : Supreme Court on Wednesday decided to go deep into the functioning of National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) which assesses and grades the higher education institutions in the country after it was alleged that its working is marred by corruption and lack of transparency and arbitrariness which is also reflected in CAG audit report and a case registered by CBI against its officials . 

Sensing that the allegations levelled in PIL was very serious which could affect higher education in the country, a bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Joyamalya Bagchi said that it would examine the petition questioning the functioning of the council. 

Pleading for the court’s intervention, advocate Mohammad Shoeb Alam and advocate Manan Verma told the bench that the issue was very serious as the very credibility and fairness of the council’s working was questionable. 

The petition filed by NGO ‘Nostro Destino Foundation’, which works with Tihar jail prisoners to impart them education and help them in rehabilitation, requested the court to set up a committee to scrutinise and check assessments and gradings done by the Council of Higher Education Institutions in the last 5 years. 

Agreeing to hear the plea, the bench said “We want to go deep into the matter as to how they are functioning.” The petitioner submitted that the CAG audit done in March 2023 revealed glaring discrepancies in NAAC’s assessment processes and CBI recently in Feb registered a case against NAAC officials and certain educational institutions for accepting bribes in exchange for favorable accreditation scores.

The bribes reportedly included cash payments, gold, mobile phones and laptops highlighting the transactional nature of the accreditation process, it said. “After the allegations of corruption surfaced in the grading process in February, 2025, NAAC removed over 900 assessors without conducting re-assessments of the institutions evaluated by them. 

Further, NAAC arbitrarily initiated a re-DVV process (data validation and verification) after the first process ended for several insti tutions, reducing their previously awarded scores without affording any opportunity of hearing them. The 

 absence of transparency in the NAAC assessment process has led to widespread uncertainty regarding its credibility and fairness,” the petition said. The bench, after a brief hearing, issued notice to UGC, NAAC and Centre’s HRD ministry and sought their response. The petition said the assessment and grading done by NAAC not only affects the reputation of the institutions but also affects the quality of education being provided and the process followed by NAAC is violative of Article 14 and Article 21 of Constitution. It said arbitrary and non-uniform grading processes lead to discrimination among HEIs, as some institutions benefit from corrupt practices while others suffer due to a lack of transparency. “The opaque process of peer team selection and institutional assessments has led to inconsistent and unreliable grading,” the petition said. UNDER SCANNER: We want to go deep into the matter as to how they are functioning, said the SC agreeing to the plea

NAAC purges 900 assessors after corruption allegations

NAAC purges 900 assessors after corruption allegations 

Before Sacking 20% Of Inspectors, It Had Stopped Physical Inspections

Hemali.Chhapia@timesofindia.com 25.02.2025

Mumbai : The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) took a dramatic step, cutting nearly a fifth of its peer reviewers — almost 900 of them — after allegations of corruption surfaced in the grading process. The purge followed a tip-off to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that assessors visiting Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation, a deemed university in Andhra Pradesh, solicited a bribe in exchange for the highest accreditation grade. At a moment when NAAC was already reassessing its accreditation framework, the mass removal of reviewers signalled a deeper shift. 

Letters from the NAAC director to the remaining peer reviewers made clear that their work was more than procedural; it was a “nationally important assignment”. “We were reviewing our processes for over a year. We were also looking at the assessors on board and while we removed many, we were also looking at onboarding some senior academicians, vicechancellors, deans, and directors of reputed insti tutes,” said professor Anil Sahasrabudhe, chairman of the NAAC executive committee. 

In a move aimed at eradicating corruption and streamlining accreditation, after the KLEF case, NAAC abruptly halted physical inspections of colleges. Evaluations, it said, would now be conducted entirely online, eliminating campus visits for colleges. Universities, though, would see a hybrid approach—most assessments would be remote, but select reviewers would still conduct on-site visits to ensure oversight. “Integrity is not a line item—it is the very foundation of trust in the system. 

We dropped more than 900 assessors. In some cases, the data about these assessors was insufficient; in others, we reviewed their assessments and found them lacking. Some were removed based on feedback we received, and in others, we analysed how they wrote their reports,” NAAC director Ganesan Kannabiran told TOI. “In some cases, we compared the two assessment reports and felt that certain assessors’ performance did not meet NAAC’s requirements,” Kannabiran added.

GU lost A++ NAAC grade due to 515 vacant positions

GU lost A++ NAAC grade due to 515 vacant positions 

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 12.02.2025

Ahmedabad : Gujarat University could not score A++ in the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) evaluation due to over 500 vacant teaching and administrative positions. The NAAC committee, in its recently released report, highlighted several key shortcomings affecting the university’s performance, including faculty shortages, infrastructure gaps and delays in recruitment. The university has begun preparations to address these issues. A NAAC team which had recently inspected the varsity has currently given it an A+ grade. Before that, GU had been rated B. One of the major concerns was the large number of unfilled positions. Currently, 103 teaching and 412 administrative posts remain vacant, totalling 515 vacancies. This figure is nearly equal to the number of occupied positions. 

Although a recruitment process was initiated in 2022, it was halted before the interview stage. The process has not resumed due to factors such as the new vice-chancellor’s appointment, the implementation of the Gujarat Public Universities Act, and changes in education policy. The NAAC team noted that GU’s inability to fill these positions was a key reason why it lost top accreditation grade. Additionally, the team emphasised the need for an inclusive learning system for differently abled students, development of a well-equipped sports complex and improved hostel facilities. The report also stressed the importance of attracting more international students and establishing transportation within the campus.

The report further highlighted uncertainty regarding grants, as GU is awaiting a Rs 100 crore grant for infrastructure and academic improvements. The team also pointed out the need for upgrading laboratories and digitising department records. Addressing the concerns, VC Neerja Gupta said, “Immediate steps are being taken to introduce a transport system for students, and if the recruitment process faces further delays, we will bring in professors on deputation.

NAAC debars varsity in A.P. for 5 years from accreditation

NAAC debars varsity in A.P. for 5 years from accreditation

The case involves the CBI probe into the alleged bribery of a NAAC team by the Guntur-based Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation; the council also debars all 7 members of the team

The Hindu Bureau  09.02.2025

Bengaluru

The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), the autonomous accreditation body for higher education institutes, on Saturday announced that its executive committee has decided to not only cancel the current process of accreditation of the Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation (KLEF) in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, but also debar its university for five years from applying for accreditation.

It has also decided to debar all the seven members of the peer team for lifetime in assessment or any other activities of NAAC with immediate effect.

The case involves the CBI investigation into the alleged bribery of a NAAC team by the KLEF in exchange for an A++ rating for its university.

“In addition, it is decided to review the recent visits to HEIs (higher education institutions) by any of the seven members for which the results are not declared. The results of such HEIs will be withheld, and the Standing Committee of NAAC may critically review before declaring the results. In addition, it is decided that the visits of last one year will be carefully analysed and put up to EC for further necessary action,” said NAAC in a statement.

“As per the Dr. Radhakrishnan Committee recommendations, NAAC has proposed to launch the Basic (Binary) Accreditation in April/May 2025 followed by Maturity-based Graded Levels (MBGL). Special committees are working on the preparation of framework and methodology for MBGL. It is observed that NAAC’s Peer Review system has faced a challenging situation due to the recent CBI case. These are undesirable to the higher education system, and NAAC being a quality assurance agency is determined to eliminate such practices through definitive actions,” said NAAC, adding that it is planning to take additional steps to refine the system by eliminating the scope for unfair practices in the system.

NAAC GRADING