JOIN USThe Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have finally agreed to be accredited by the National Board of Accreditation but want it to issue quality assurance certificates of their programmes blindly, on the basis of their own performance review reports.
The premier technical institutes, at a meeting of the their council headed by Human Resource Development Minister M M Pallam Raju, relinquished their long-standing opposition to accreditation but made it clear that they will not allow NBA to carry out any assessment of the quality of their programmes and infrastructure.
The IITs seemed to have prevailed over the government on the issue as the HRD Minister vociferously supported their stand, saying they were “way above” other technical institutes in India.
“The IITs conduct internal review of their programmes every year. Thier internal reviews should be sufficient for NBA to give accreditation,” he told reporters here.
The NBA, however, will take a final decision on the issue of giving accreditation to IITs.
“The IIT council decision will be placed before the NBA,” he said.
The Minister said the IIT council’s decision was significant as it will pave the way for India to become a full-fledged member of the Washington Accord, of which 16 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Japan, are signatories. India still figures in the list of provisional members.
Once India becomes a member of the international agreement, degrees from its accredited institutions will get substantial equivalence in countries signatory to it.