- By Ritesh Kumar
- Sun, 28 Jan 2024 10:20 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
In India, grades will no longer be given to higher education institutions (HEIs) throughout the accreditation process. They will be classified "as either accredited or not accredited" as an alternative. Furthermore, "Maturity-Based Graded Accreditation (Level 1 to 5)" will be used by accreditation authorities to motivate accredited institutions to uphold higher standards in order to obtain the highest level of 5, which is "Institutions of Global Excellence for Multi-Disciplinary Research and Education."
In order to meet the 50 per cent Gross Enrollment Ratio target set by the National Education Policy 2020, the Ministry of Education (MoE) established a committee in November 2022, led by K Radhakrishnan, the former chairman of ISRO and the chairperson of the Standing Committee of the IIT Council, to suggest revolutionary changes for bolstering accreditation and assessment. On January 16, the committee submitted its final report to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan after a public consultation.
The committee recommended a series of revolutionary changes to improve the regular approval, assessment, and accreditation of Indian HEIs, according to a senior MoE official. In order to increase their involvement and accreditation levels, the recommendation also emphasises mentoring and incentive schemes.
The new process's main aspect is the implementation of "binary accreditation," which is following best practices used by many all over the world. Instead of awarding grades as is currently the case, educational institutions will only be identified as "accredited or not accredited."
A "Maturity-Based Graded Accreditation" will be used for recognised HEIs, which they will be leveled from 1 to 5. "This is to motivate the accredited HEIs to continuously improve, evolve in-depth or in-breadth in disciplines to a higher level (Level 1 to 4 as Institutions of National Excellence, and then to Level-5)," said the official, as per the media reports.
According to the recommendations, rather than being merely input-centric, the metrics for Binary and Maturity-Based Graded Accreditation concentrate on processes, outputs, and impact across several aspects of Higher Education Institutions. The new procedure will take into account the diversity of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) across the nation, classify them according to their heritage, vision, and direction, and then, instead of using a one-size-fits-all approach, request information from the HEIs that are relevant to their category. Through mentorship and handholding, institutions in rural and remote areas will receive special attention.
To maintain transparency and integrity while managing institutional data gathered for various objectives such as accreditation, ranking, and approval, a new platform called "One Nation One Data Platform" has also been proposed. This platform has a built-in feature for cross-checking the authenticity of the data with collateral. It was also proposed that "stakeholder validation" be used to include stakeholders in the certification and ranking procedure to improve the validity and reliability of the data.