West Bengal is hurrying up its colleges to get the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) accreditation before a new system rolls in by the month of May that will make accreditation tougher. It has appointed mentors — from State-level to university-level — who are hand-holding institutions into finishing formalities by March 31.
There are close to 500 colleges in the State, and only 129 of them have the NAAC accreditation while 32 others are awaiting it. The accreditation not only entitles them to Central government and UGC funds but also establishes their reputation as an educational institution.
To get accreditation as of now, a college mainly has to show pass percentage and how many add-on courses it had, but once the new system is in place, it will be required to show placement or progression of students to higher studies or entrepreneurship. For some reason the colleges had remained hesitant, at least initially, about applying for NAAC accreditation. The State government now wants 100% accreditation.
“We mentors are trying to energise them, the only challenge being meeting the deadline considering this is Bengal, where there is a tendency to procrastinate. But we are being strict and serious,” Tilak Chatterjee, principal of Bankim Sardar College and one of the five State-level mentors, told The Hindu.
Dr. Chatterjee is possibly facing the busiest time in his career: he has been holding back-to-back meetings, from large online conferences to individual face-to-face consultations, to make sure colleges under him meet the State government’s March-31 deadline to complete self-study reports required for accreditation.
Explaining why colleges have been hesitant is applying for NAAC accreditation, he said, “Maybe they saw some accredited colleges not getting grants. But it is also true that since 2016, nearly 100 accredited colleges got grants, and that is what I am trying to tell them. I am also telling them that a known devil is better than an unknown devil — that they should get accreditation before the new process rolls in because we have no clear idea yet how stringent the new system is going to be.”
Dr. Chatterjee added, “But this is not to say that they won’t get accreditation once the new system is in place. Our colleges are quite capable. Just that the process will get very long.”
