AICTE advises technical institutions, universities to apply for NAAC assessment, NIRF ranking

NEW DELHI: The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has advised all technical universities and institutions to apply for National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) and the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF).

AICTE’s advice comes after the governing council of the NITI Aayog advised all Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to apply in order to improve their rankings.

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“The Governing Council of NITI Aayog chaired by Hon'ble Prime Minister in its 7th Meeting held on 7th August, 2022 has reviewed the progress of National Education Policy - 2020 implementation and suggested to make NIRF Ranking mandatory for all universities. The council advised that all the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) should apply for the NAAC assessment, NIRF rankings and make serious efforts to improve their ranking,” said Mamta Rani Agarwal, advisor in the official AICTE notice.

“You are, therefore, seriously advised to apply for NAAC assessment and NIRF rankings to enable qualitative improvements in education system,” AICTE told vice-chancellors of technical universities and directors or principals of educational institutions.

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The Parliament was reportedly informed in February that at least 695 universities and over 34,000 colleges across the country are operating without NAAC accreditation. "As per information received from the UGC, out of the 1,113 universities and 43,796 colleges, NAAC has accredited 418 universities and 9,062 colleges," Union Minister of State for Education Subhas Sarkar said in a written reply to a Lok Sabha question.

The minister said that NAAC has reduced the fee structure for assessment and accreditation to bring all the educational institutions, universities and colleges under the accreditation system. The metrics and questions in the manual for self-study report for affiliated and constituent colleges have also been considerably reduced, he added.