Accreditation norms to be tightened

 In its bid to bring management programmes at par with international standards the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) is likely to change the criteria for accreditation of management courses, both at under graduate and post graduate levels.

The National Board of Accreditation (NBA), an AICTE agency responsible for accreditation to engineering and management courses and institutes running those programmes, is working on a new set of criteria which would focus more on learning outcomes of the students. “Each programme should have several objectives including what the students have actually learnt  and it should be assessed on the basis of how those objectives have been fulfilled,” an official source told Deccan Herald. The new set of criteria should be implemented from the next academic session.

“The NBA evaluation processes, based on a set of eight broad-based criteria, are so designed as to facilitate identification of the strengths and weaknesses of the programmes under accreditation,” the source said.

Institutions seeking accreditation of their programmes are expected to satisfy each of the criteria individually. They are expected to adhere to these criteria during the validity period of accreditation granted.

The first criteria applies to Institutional Management, Organisation and Governance and depends on the qualities of leadership, motivation, transparency of the operation, decentralisation and delegation of powers, participation of faculty in the management,  planning, and general efficiency indices. The evaluation would also depend on the allocation and utilisation of financial resources and quality of physical infrastructure.

Adequate space and appropriate physical resources, including buildings, laboratories, equipment, material, library and other ancillary facilities must be available. While examining the physical resources, there is a need to ensure provisions for safety, security and hygiene. The faculty strength, cadres, qualification and level of competence and performance should be adequate to accomplish the institutional mission and goals.

The commitment, attitudes and communication skills of the faculty play an important and crucial role in successfully running the academic programmes. This, in turn, depends upon the recruitment procedures, incentives, exposure to industrial activities, faculty development programmes and workload of the faculty.

The evaluation procedures, academic results and time taken for completion of these requirements are important parameters. The graduation requirements should be made known to every student. The Diploma/Degree awarded should appropriately reflect the student’s attainments.

The core of the main programme should concentrate on acquisition of knowledge and skills in the specific discipline, and also ensure exposure to inter-disciplinary areas. The students should demonstrate their competence in oral communication, scientific and quantitative reasoning, critical analysis, logical thinking, creativity and capacity for self-learning.

Post-graduate degree programmes should be designed to give students mastery in their field of study. They should have coherent curricula and should enable the students to advance substantially beyond the educational requirements of the undergraduate Degree level.