DU sets up quality assurance cell

Updated on: Monday, November 16, 2009

DELHI University’s Academic Council (AC) has rejected the proposal of getting DU-affiliated colleges Accreditation Council (NAAC). The members of the council feel that the accreditation would ‘adversely affect’ some colleges of DU. Also, a large number of academics feel that the NAAC methodology is too general and cannot be applied to DU colleges.

"NAAC assesses colleges on parameters such as infrastructure, research, faculty, etc, and on the basis of it provides ‘A’, ‘B’ or ‘C’ rankings. Based on the rankings, a college receives grants. Colleges with lower ratings are at a disadvantage and get lower grants from the University Grants Commission (UGC)," said Abha Dev Habib, member of AC. NAAC accredits colleges on the basis of seven parameters: curricular aspects; teaching-learning and evaluation; research, consultancy and extension; infrastructure and learning resources; student support and progression; governance and leadership; and innovative practices.

Instead of the NAAC accreditation, the university has passed a proposal to set up its Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC). Although the cell would assess colleges on the similar parameters set by NAAC, the university feels that the cell will prevent from creating differences among colleges. At a time when the government is planning to set up a single regulatory body instead of multiple bodies, the rejection comes as a blow to NAAC.

"If not NAAC, we still have to go for some other quality assurance. Universities across the world subscribe to accreditations as it helps them assess their strengths and weaknesses. The university’s internal cell will evaluate a college’s performance on the basis of certain set parameters," informed Deepak Pental, vice-chancellor, DU.

Elaborating on the role of IQAC, AK Bakhshi, director, Institute of Lifelong Learning, said, "DU is known for its high standards. IQAC is likely to instill a momentum of quality consciousness among colleges," he said.

Further, SK Garg, principal Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, added, "The NAAC accreditation is meant for new institutions. But DU has several old colleges of reputation, which do not fulfil certain criteria set by NAAC. For example, some DU colleges — of high academic standard — operate from dilapidated buildings. If those colleges go for the accreditation, they are bound to be ranked low due to their poor infrastructure."

Citing an example of his own college, Garg said, "We have introduced a range of new courses over the years, but we operate from an old school building. There are many such cases where colleges are at a disadvantage due to their location. These problems are peculiar to DU and cannot be assessed by an outside agency." Bakhshi assures, "IQAC will ensure that all colleges stand a fair chance and that no college is at disadvantage."

Timesofindia

DU sets up quality assurance cell

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