17 universities facing de-recognition get 'A' grade

The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (Naac) has given “A” grade to 17 deemed-to-be universities, which were among the 38 universities declared by a government-appointed expert panel as unfit for the status in 2009.

The Naac also gave “B” grade to 20 of them and “C” to one. According to the Naac rating, a university getting “A” grade in assessment means the quality of its faculty, teaching-learning and infrastructure is “very good” while “B” and “C” mean ‘good’ and ‘satisfactory’, respectively.

More than 50 per cent of the 38 deemed-to be-universities, given ‘A’ grade by the Naac in their assessment, are in South India and two of them in Karnataka.

All these universities are facing de-recognition since a committee of experts, headed by P N Tandon, declared them “unworthy” for the deemed-to-be status in its report in 2009.
The Naac conducted assessment of their quality and performance only after the Supreme Court passed an order in September, hearing on a long-pending petition filed by the varsities challenging the Tandon committee report.

In compliance to an apex court order earlier, the University Grants Commission (UGC) set up a panel to conduct physical inspection of these varsities.

On the basis of the report of the inspection team, however, the higher education regulator decided to give one more year to seven of the 38 universities as “final opportunity” to rectify their deficiencies, holding that rest of the varsities had not yet rectified their shortcomings even after lapse of many years.

Karnataka’s Siddhartha Academy of Higher Education, Tumakuru and Yenepoya University, Mangalore, got “A” grade certificate from the Naac. However, BLDE University, Vijayapura as well as Bangaluru’s Christ University and Jain University could only secure “B” grade in Naac assessment.

Vinayaka Mission's Research Foundation, Salem, Academy of Maritime Education and Training, Karathur, Bharath Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai, Ponnaiyah Ramajayam Institute of Technology and Science, Thanjavur, as well as MGR Educational and Research Institute, Chennai are among seven universities from Tamil Nadu which got Naac’s “A” certification. Eight other universities from the state, however, were accorded “B” grade.

The Naac accorded Gujarat’s Sumandeep Vidyapeeth in Vadodara “A” grade with highest cumulative grade point average (CGPA) score of 3.53.