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Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, Nov 14: The multiplicity of quality control agencies is matched only by the absence of information on university academic standards. The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) was set up by the University Grants Commission (UGC) in 1994 to assist it, but till now only 47 universities have volunteered data.
The NAAC expects the 214 registered universities to prepare a self-study report, which will be validated by its peers and then finally assessed by the council. While on paper, the scheme sounds grand and UGC has even given Rs 5 lakh to each university to meet the expenses incurred in undergoing the accreditation process, it appears to have met with little success even in four years. Professor I Yanger Ao of the four-year-old central university of Nagaland (one of the 15 which is fully financed by the UGC), for instance, says he received a letter from the NAAC four months ago seeking information on standards in the university which has 400 students, but he is yet to reply toit.
According to the Government’s own documents, UGC has already indicated that its plan-based development support to educational institutions will be directly related to the outcome of accreditation and assessment, but few seem to take the NAAC seriously. Of the 9,703 colleges in the country, only 75 affiliated colleges and 20 autonomous colleges have volunteered to be accredited by NAAC.
Though 10 universities and 25 colleges are reported to be in the advanced stage of finalising the self-study report, there is still a vast majority which teaches students oblivious of the requirements of periodic review. NAAC has also completed on-site visits to seven institutions — one university and six colleges. This leisurely pace of amassing information is proceeding apace with increasing tensions even in established universities. Aligarh Muslim University, for instance, which is a central university and was established as early as 1920, has been sticking to its academic calendar only for the past two years. For27 years, it had a tradition of postponing examinations.
Though the situation improved with the takeover of Mahmood-ur-Rahman in 1995 (though a student was killed in clashes in 1996) a junior doctors agitation has again forced AMU’s closure since November 6, leading to evacuation of 18,000 residential students by special trains. This complete carelessness on educational data contrasts sharply with the so-called emphasis of the Ministry of Human Resource Development on the strengthening of statistical machinery. A new centrally-sponsored scheme (with an annual grant of Rs 1 crore) is supposed to have been started in states to firm up the educational data base and meet the requirements of UNESCO and World Education Indicators.
