An april 23 directive of the Supreme Court stating that any college or university not accredited by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) by 2017 will be derecognised, has cast a shadow over 401 state-aided colleges in West Bengal. The Bangalore-based NAAC (estb.1994) is an autonomous institution that assesses and accredits institutions of higher education in India.
More than 401 colleges in the state are unaccredited, which could result in their being disaffiliated by their parent universities (the University of Calcutta has 168 affiliated colleges) and becoming ineligible for grants from the Delhi-based UGC (University Grants Commission). Of the state’s 460 government colleges, 172 have never applied for NAAC certification and the validity period (five years) of 229 colleges has lapsed. According to informed academics in Kolkata, the two-year window between now and March 31, 2017 is insufficient for NAAC to assess and accredit the 401 currently unaccredited colleges in the state.
In the circumstances, only 59 colleges in West Bengal are eligible for the Rs.2 crore ‘infrastructure grant’ under UGC’s Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (higher education improvement programme) to be disbursed to NAAC-accredited higher education institutions in fiscal 2015-16 and 2016-17. According to a West Bengal higher education official, 35 percent (Rs.70 lakh) of the grant of each eligible college is to be spent on creating new infrastructure, 35 percent for renovation or upgradation of existing facilities, and 30 percent for purchase of new equipment or facilities.
For West Bengal’s perpetually cash-strapped colleges whose tuition fees ranging from Rs.600-900 per year are strictly controlled by government at rock-bottom levels, the modest grants conferred by UGC are very useful. Comments Siuli Sarkar, principal of Lady Brabourne College: “After the first NAAC accreditation, we received Central grants of Rs.1 crore under a number of heads such as our qualifying as a centre with potential for excellence.” Among the universities, only Jadavpur University (estb.1955) and Vidyasagar University (estb.1981) have valid NAAC accreditation with the applications of 17 universities — including Calcutta University — pending.
Academics and the intelligentsia in West Bengal are divided about the utility of NAAC accreditation. Some believe that UGC has done right by setting infrastructure, faculty and learning outcomes benchmarks and that its grants are incentives for compliance.
Others are unenthused by expensive and bureaucratic assessment and accreditation processes, and UGC’s pitifully small grants. For instance, Asutosh College, Kolkata (estb.1916) was rated C++ by NAAC in 2002 but didn’t feel it worthwhile to renew its certificate when it expired in 2007. “UGC grants are too small to make a difference and even so they are paid out irregularly, on an ad hoc basis. We had to wait for long periods to receive them, causing delays in implementing our plans,” recalls Dipak Kar, former principal of the college.
Moreover, according to Dr. Sukanta Chaudhuri, former professor at Presidency and Jadavpur universities, the media headlines relating to West Bengal’s colleges being uncertified by NAAC are needlessly alarmist. “The situation isn’t dire in Bengal and wonderful in the rest of India. Although West Bengal is lagging behind the southern states in NAAC accreditations/certification, it’s ahead of most other states.”
A case in point: Delhi University which is yet to be accredited and certified by the country’s premier assessment and accreditation agency.
Baishali Mukherjee (Kolkata)