“Seeking accreditation is only a voluntary process and there is no binding whatsoever to obtain it. The State government had withheld salary grants to certain aided colleges for their failure to get the accreditation, which is not correct. The clarifications sought by the government in this regard have already been furnished by NAAC,” Dr Reddy said speaking at a workshop on “Re-accreditation Process and The Role of Internal Quality Assurance Cell,” here on Wednesday.
Quality education
Reiterating that NAAC accreditation is purely a voluntary requirement for colleges and universities serious about enhancing the quality of education, he pointed out that salaries have not been withheld anywhere in the country except Karnataka, for want of accreditation. Out of the 20,000 colleges in the State only 4,000 have volunteered to obtain the accreditation, he revealed.
Dr Reddy said that the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, one of the prestigious universities of the country, has not cared to go for NAAC accreditation. “Not a single college in Delhi has volunteered yet to seek it while the colleges elsewhere in the country are eager to secure accreditation for the second time after the lapse of validity of the first accreditation.” He divulged that the JNU has been persuaded to get the accreditation and encourage its affiliated colleges to follow suit so as to become a model for others, and the University has not responded so far.
Unaided private colleges outnumber the government and aided colleges in the country, contributing more number of colleges to the universities. However, most of the unaided private colleges have not obtained NAAC accreditation, he said. The two-day workshop, sponsored by NAAC, was organised by Nutan Vidyalaya College.
