NAAC’s Provisional Accreditation for Institutes That Complete One Year

Under new guidelines issued by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), colleges and universities that have completed just one academic year are eligible to apply for provisional accreditation. This step was taken to widen the horizon of accreditation.

Hitherto, education institutions that were at least six years old or had a minimum of two batches of graduated students were allowed to apply for NAAC accreditation. As a result, a few out of 51,000 HEIs possess NAAC certification in the last 25 years. However, Provisional Accreditation of Colleges (PAC) paved the way for new institutes to offer quality education.

What is Provisional Accreditation by NAAC?

Before we dive into provisional accreditation, here is a brief about how NAAC works. It is an autonomous institution set up by UGC to evaluate the performance of higher education institutions based on different parameters. NAAC assess teaching & learning, governance structure, financial well-being, research, infrastructure, and other factors to give grades, ranging from A++ to C. If any college gets a D grade, it implies that it is not a NAAC accredited institution.

NEP 2020 mandates every institution to have accreditation in the coming 15-20 years else their degrees will not be valid. However, the NAAC system didn’t have the bandwidth to accredit such a large number of colleges. Hence, provisional accreditation was launched as a simple method to facilitate the accreditation of new HEIs.

Here’s everything you need to know about Provisional Accreditation:

With the introduction of provision accreditation, institutions that apply for PAC will be examined on their qualitative and quantitative framework. The former will focus on the learning levels of students and the integration of technology in teaching methods. While the latter will have questions regarding the student-teacher ratio, the pass percentage of students, and more. They must secure at least 15 marks out of 40 by answering these questions.

The HEIs will get feedback on the different areas they need to improve to reach the threshold level of quality. PAC will be valid for two years and no institution can apply for it more than twice.

It is a progressive step taken by NAAC, encouraging newly established institutions by providing them with an opportunity to deliver quality education and services from the start. This will certainly help colleges in Tier II and III cities to improve by giving them the attention they need. Moreover, it will transform the country’s current undergraduate college system and take it up a notch. As around 70% of HEIs are private, PAC will bring a competitive spirit and push them to perform better.

Objectives of PAC

• The vision behind PAC was to widen the horizon of accreditation and ensure quality.
• Review applicant HEIs and give feedback regarding the areas they need to work on to reach the set standards.
• Create a roadmap for newly started colleges and accommodate the ones that are not eligible for the Regular (Graded) Accreditation of NAAC.
• Determine, support, and guide eligible education institutions that want to apply for the Graded Accreditation.
• Provide opportunities to institutions to prepare, plan, and build confidence to apply for the Regular Accreditation of NAAC.

Conclusion

PAC is a simple process to ascertain the readiness of HEIs toward Assessment and Accreditation. It gives a path to new institutions by evaluating them on fewer parameters and helping them enter into the accreditation fold. With clear objectives and a comprehensive evaluation system, PAC will motivate colleges to achieve excellence and innovation.

CollPoll is your one-stop solution to seek help regarding accreditation and stay updated with the latest news. Get in touch with us via a call or email now for expert assistance.