First private accreditation body for varsities set up

Even as the National Accreditation Regulatory Authority Bill for higher education remains to be passed by Parliament, the country's first private accreditation body came into being on Friday.

Registered as a non-profit council, the Indian Centre for Assessment and Accreditation (ICAA), with Manipal University head T V Mohandas Pai as chairman and former University Grants Commission ( UGC) chairman Arun Nigavekar as chief advisor, aims at monitoring and assessing universities on a set of criteria that would keep in mind the domestic realities and international expectations .

At a press conference here, Mohandas Pai said universities would be ranked based on access, equity and quality. "Within nine months, a complete set of procedures will be in place," he said.

There are two government accreditation agencies in the country - the National Assessment and Accreditation Council and the National Board of Accreditation. "In 19 years, these agencies have accredited only 28% of universities and 14% of colleges," said S P Thyagarajan, former vice-chancellor of the University of Madras. "With grading of colleges gaining recognition, it's time we had a private body that will ensure transparency while assessing universities and colleges."

Some of the ICAA members stressed the decline in global ranking of Indian varsities over the years. While in 2009 and 2010 some Indian Institutes of Technology were within the top 200, no Indian university featured in the top 200 in 2012, according to 2011 rating of UK-based Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), which specializes in education and study abroad. In 2012, Chinese varsities made it to the top 50 and a few Middle East institutions to the top 100, the council said.

Private agencies will be allowed to rate institutions to "create a healthy competitive environment", according to the National Accreditation Regulatory Authority for Higher Educational Institutions Bill, 2010.

ICAA, which has partnered QS, will include agricultural scientist M S Swaminathan, scientist V Ponraj, VIT chancellor G Viswanathan and National University of Singapore vice-president Prof Seeram Ramakrishna as its council members. It will function under the human resource development ministry.