Most universities lack mandatory quality certificate



Though the UGC has made it mandatory for all higher education institutions to get accreditation from the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), only a handful of institutions in the country have got a quality certificate so far.



According to sources in the Ministry of Human Resource Development, only 24 per cent of all higher education institutions in the country have attained the status.



While earlier the universities only had to volunteer for accreditation, the Union Grants Commissions made it compulsory for them to get a grade from NAAC starting January this year to be able to retain their recognition.

To be able to give each of them a quality status and give them incentive to improve, MHRD is also planning to set up five regional centres of NAAC likely to be located in regions like Delhi, Hyderabad, Goa, Patna or Orissa and Madhya Pradesh.



"There is an increase in the number of institutions applying for a NAAC rating since it was made compulsory. Earlier, institutions were scared to get an accreditation if they did not meet the standards fixed by the UGC. But now we expect a rise in applications as we go along," said Professor A.N. Rai, director, NAAC.

According to UGC, there are around 570 universities and nearly 37,000 colleges in the country.



NAAC has accredited around 850 purely self-financing institutions and around 3,000 aided colleges in the private category.



