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World Bank Learning Seminar

Quality Assurance in Tertiary Education

(CIEP, Sevres, France, June 18-20, 2006)

Welcome to presentation by

Prof. V. S. Prasad

Director, NAAC, India

on

Indian Experience on Quality Assurance

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Higher education system in India: The context

Long history of advanced education

Hindu - Gurukulas; Buddhist - Viharas; Quaremic -MadarasasModern institutions of Higher Education: 1857Three universities at Bombay (Mumbai) , Madras(Chennai) and Calcutta(Kolkata)

Large size

356 - Universities (includes Central, State, Private, Deemed and Institutionsof National Importance)

17625 Colleges (Includes affiliated, constituent, autonomous, public aided andprivate etc.)

10.5 million students (Source: University Grants Commission, India)

Huge DiversityHigher Education is in the concurrent list. National and provincialGovernments have a role of play in this sector; Higher education mostly is inpublic domain (80% publicly funded and 20% privately funded); Differenttypes of higher education institutions in size, resources, systems of governanceand ownership

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External Quality Assurance AgenciesAgency and Year of Establishment Domain of activities

1. National Assessment and AccreditationCouncil (NAAC), 1994

(Established by UGC)

All categories of higher educationinstitutions (Institutional and

programme accreditation)

2. National Board of Accreditation (NBA)1994, (Established by AICTE)

Technical Education

(programme accreditation)3. Accreditation Board (AB), 2002

(Established by ICAR)

Agricultural Education

(Programme and institutionalaccreditation)

4. Distance Education Council (DEC)

1992, (Established by IGNOU)

Distance Education

(Programme and institutionalaccreditation)

All these are in public domain

Some private agencies, sponsored mostly by popular magazines, are engaged in rating

of higher education institutions

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Frequently used terms and their context specificmeanings

Qualityas fitness for purpose ability to meet the stated purposeof education

Quality Assurance as a process of continuous quality

improvement

Assessment is a process of evaluation of performance of an

institution of Higher Learning and/or its units, based on certainestablished criteria

Accreditation is certification of assessment given by the NAAC

which is valid for a stated period of time and the recognition accorded

to an institution that meets standards or satisfies criteria laid down by

a competent agency Criteria as predetermined standards for the functioning of an

institution of Higher Education that form the basis of assessment and

accreditation

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Role of NAAC

To assess and accredit institutions of higher education in India

128 Universities and 2879 colleges were assessed and

accredited (as on May 21, 2006)

To promote Quality Assurance in Higher Education

More than 100 publications on quality assurance

Number of awareness programmes

Series of post-accreditation activities

Promotion of Internal Quality Assurance mechanism i.e.

Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) in every

accredited higher education institution

National and International collaboration activities

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Value Framework for Assessment of HigherEducation Institutions *

Values/Goals Suggested Parameters/Activities

1. Contribution to NationalDevelopment

More access with equity Developmental thrust in identification of

research areas and academic programmes Community engagement

2. Fostering GlobalCompetencies amongStudents

Development of generic skills

Development of application skillsDevelopment of life skills

3. Inculcating Value System inStudents

Value integration in academicProgrammes

Value integration in managementpractices

Value inculcation throughco-curricular

and extra-curricular Activities4. Promoting the Use ofTechnology

For enrichment of learning For increasing the access-online

programmes For system management

5. Quest for Excellence Development of benchmarks ofexcellence

Best Practices application Institutionalization of continuous

* The list is only illustrative. Institutions may identify many other parameters/ activities depending on their context.

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Assessment Methodology

Four stage approach

1. Identifying pre-determined criteria for assessment

2. Preparation and submission of self-study report (SSR) by the

institution

3. On-site visit by the Peer Team for validation of SSR and for

recommending the assessment outcome to NAAC

4. The final decision on accreditation by the Executive Committee

of the NAAC

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The Criteria of AssessmentThe institutions are assessed on a 1000 point scale on seven criteria withdifferent weightages to each criteria as follows

Criterion University Autonomous

College

Affiliated

College

Curricular Aspects 150 150 100

Teaching-Learning and Evaluation 250 300 400

Research, Consultancy and Extension 150 100 50

Infrastructure and Learning Resources 150 150 150

Student Support and Progression 100 100 100

Organization and Management 100 100 100

Healthy Practices 100 100 100

Total 1000 1000 1000

Average of all criteria is taken to measure the quality of performance

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Peer Team Constitution

Universities

Chairperson - Eminent Educationist/Vice-Chancellor/Director

Members (3 to 5) - Eminent Educationist/Professors

Co-ordination - NAAC academic staff

Colleges

Chairperson - Eminent Educationist/ Vice-Chancellor/Director

Member 1 - Professor

Member 2 - Principal/ Educational Administrator

Co-ordination - NAAC Academic Staff or External Member-

Coordinator

Person from industry/service sector as an observer

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A. The Grading

Institutional Score

(upper limit exclusive)

Grade

95-100 A++

90-95 A+

85-90 A

80-85 B++

75-80 B+70-75 B

65-70 C++

60-65 C+

55-60 C

The outcome of Assessment

B. Peer Team Report - Peer Team prepares a report with commendations andrecommendation for further improvement of quality of institutional operations. It isgiven to the institution and also is made public through website.

C. Provision for AppealAppeals Committee with members other than Peer TeamCommittee is constituted to address the appeals of institutions on grading awarded byNAAC

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Impact of NAAC

Generated more interest and concerns about Quality Assurance

among the stake holders of Higher Education

Created better understanding of Quality Assurance among

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)

Triggered Quality Assurance activities in many of the Higher

Education Institutions

Helped in creation of institutional database of the accredited

institutions of Higher Education

Helped other funding and regulatory agencies to take some of

their decisions based on the assessment outcomes

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The Concerns

Appropriate methodologies for assessment of largenumber of institutions

Identification of right things to assess the quality of

provision

Reliability of grading and relevance of Peer Team report.

Recognition of accreditation

Multiple agencies and co-ordination among them.

Accreditation of cross-border education

Limited Autonomy of assessment agencies

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The lessons of experience

Government association and support is critical to the effectiveness of

external assessment agencies

Simple and quantifiable criteria of quality assessment will bring more

credibility to the operations

Transparency of the process brings more accountability and reliability to

the operations

Involvement of academia is critical to their acceptance of external

assessment activity

Internal Quality assurance systems and processes is a pre-condition for

the successful operation of external quality assurance system

E-assessment systems may have to be adopted to address the problem ofassessment of large numbers and to reduce subjectivity in judgements of

quality

Quality assessment institution as a role model of quality is critical to the

effectiveness of its operations

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We must be the change that we wish to see in the world

- Mahatma Gandhi

hank you