World Bank Learning Seminar

Quality Assurance in Tertiary Education

(CIEP, Sevres, France, June 18-20, 2006)


Welcome to presentation by

Prof. V. S. Prasad
Director, NAAC, India
on
Indian Experience on Quality Assurance

Higher education system in India: The context
Long history of advanced education
Hindu - Gurukulas; Buddhist - Viharas; Quaremic - Madarasas
Modern institutions of Higher Education: 1857
Three universities at Bombay (Mumbai) , Madras(Chennai) and Calcutta
(Kolkata)

Large size
356 - Universities (includes Central, State, Private, Deemed and Institutions
of National Importance)
17625 Colleges (Includes affiliated, constituent, autonomous, public aided and
private etc.)
10.5 million students (Source: University Grants Commission, India)

Huge Diversity
Higher Education is in the concurrent list. National and provincial
Governments have a role of play in this sector; Higher education mostly is in
public domain (80% publicly funded and 20% privately funded); Different
types of higher education institutions in size, resources, systems of governance
and ownership



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External Quality Assurance Agencies
Agency and Year of Establishment Domain of activities
1. National Assessment and Accreditation
Council (NAAC), 1994
(Established by UGC)
All categories of higher education
institutions (Institutional and
programme accreditation)
2. National Board of Accreditation (NBA)
1994, (Established by AICTE)
Technical Education
(programme accreditation)
3. Accreditation Board (AB), 2002
(Established by ICAR)
Agricultural Education
(Programme and institutional
accreditation)
4. Distance Education Council (DEC)
1992, (Established by IGNOU)
Distance Education
(Programme and institutional
accreditation)
All these are in public domain
Some private agencies, sponsored mostly by popular magazines, are engaged in rating
of higher education institutions
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Frequently used terms and their context specific
meanings
Quality as fitness for purpose ability to meet the stated purpose
of education
Quality Assurance as a process of continuous quality
improvement
Assessment is a process of evaluation of performance of an
institution of Higher Learning and/or its units, based on certain
established criteria
Accreditation is certification of assessment given by the NAAC
which is valid for a stated period of time and the recognition accorded
to an institution that meets standards or satisfies criteria laid down by
a competent agency
Criteria as predetermined standards for the functioning of an
institution of Higher Education that form the basis of assessment and
accreditation
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Role of NAAC
To assess and accredit institutions of higher education in India
128 Universities and 2879 colleges were assessed and
accredited (as on May 21, 2006)
To promote Quality Assurance in Higher Education
More than 100 publications on quality assurance
Number of awareness programmes
Series of post-accreditation activities
Promotion of Internal Quality Assurance mechanism i.e.
Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) in every
accredited higher education institution
National and International collaboration activities
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Value Framework for Assessment of Higher
Education Institutions *

Values/Goals Suggested Parameters/Activities
1. Contribution to National
Development
More access with equity
Developmental thrust in identification of
research areas and academic programmes
Community engagement
2. Fostering Global
Competencies among
Students
Development of generic skills
Development of application skills
Development of life skills
3. Inculcating Value System in
Students
Value integration in academic
Programmes
Value integration in management
practices
Value inculcation through co-curricular
and extra-curricular Activities
4. Promoting the Use of
Technology
For enrichment of learning
For increasing the access-online
programmes
For system management
5. Quest for Excellence Development of benchmarks of
excellence
Best Practices application
Institutionalization of continuous
improvement systems
* The list is only illustrative. Institutions may identify many other parameters/ activities depending on their context.


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Assessment Methodology
Four stage approach
1. Identifying pre-determined criteria for assessment
2. Preparation and submission of self-study report (SSR) by the
institution
3. On-site visit by the Peer Team for validation of SSR and for
recommending the assessment outcome to NAAC
4. The final decision on accreditation by the Executive Committee
of the NAAC
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The Criteria of Assessment
The institutions are assessed on a 1000 point scale on seven criteria with
different weightages to each criteria as follows
Criterion University Autonomous
College
Affiliated
College
Curricular Aspects 150 150 100
Teaching-Learning and Evaluation 250 300 400
Research, Consultancy and Extension 150 100 50
Infrastructure and Learning Resources 150 150 150
Student Support and Progression 100 100 100
Organization and Management 100 100 100
Healthy Practices 100 100 100
Total 1000 1000 1000
Average of all criteria is taken to measure the quality of performance
Peer Team Constitution
Universities
Chairperson - Eminent Educationist/Vice-Chancellor/Director
Members (3 to 5) - Eminent Educationist/Professors
Co-ordination - NAAC academic staff

Colleges
Chairperson - Eminent Educationist/ Vice-Chancellor/Director
Member 1 - Professor
Member 2 - Principal/ Educational Administrator
Co-ordination - NAAC Academic Staff or External Member-
Coordinator
Person from industry/service sector as an observer

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A. The Grading

Institutional Score
(upper limit exclusive)
Grade
95-100 A++
90-95 A+
85-90 A
80-85 B++
75-80 B+
70-75 B
65-70 C++
60-65 C+
55-60 C
The outcome of Assessment
B. Peer Team Report - Peer Team prepares a report with commendations and
recommendation for further improvement of quality of institutional operations. It is
given to the institution and also is made public through website.
C. Provision for Appeal Appeals Committee with members other than Peer Team
Committee is constituted to address the appeals of institutions on grading awarded by
NAAC

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Impact of NAAC
Generated more interest and concerns about Quality Assurance
among the stake holders of Higher Education
Created better understanding of Quality Assurance among
Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)
Triggered Quality Assurance activities in many of the Higher
Education Institutions
Helped in creation of institutional database of the accredited
institutions of Higher Education
Helped other funding and regulatory agencies to take some of
their decisions based on the assessment outcomes
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The Concerns
Appropriate methodologies for assessment of large
number of institutions
Identification of right things to assess the quality of
provision
Reliability of grading and relevance of Peer Team report.
Recognition of accreditation
Multiple agencies and co-ordination among them.
Accreditation of cross-border education
Limited Autonomy of assessment agencies
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The lessons of experience
Government association and support is critical to the effectiveness of
external assessment agencies
Simple and quantifiable criteria of quality assessment will bring more
credibility to the operations
Transparency of the process brings more accountability and reliability to
the operations
Involvement of academia is critical to their acceptance of external
assessment activity
Internal Quality assurance systems and processes is a pre-condition for
the successful operation of external quality assurance system
E-assessment systems may have to be adopted to address the problem of
assessment of large numbers and to reduce subjectivity in judgements of
quality
Quality assessment institution as a role model of quality is critical to the
effectiveness of its operations
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We must be the change that we wish to see in the world

- Mahatma Gandhi
Thank you