NATIONAL ASSESSMENT AND ACCREDITATION COUNCIL (NAAC)

Introduction

The NATIONAL ASSESSMENT AND ACCREDITATION COUNCIL (NAAC) conducts assessment and accreditation of Higher Educational Institutions (HEI) such as colleges, universities or other recognised institutions to derive an understanding of the ‘Quality Status’ of the institution. NAAC evaluates the institutions for its conformance to the standards of quality in terms of its performance related to the educational processes and outcomes, curriculum coverage, teaching-learning processes, faculty, research, infrastructure, learning resources, organisation, governance, financial well being and student services.

Value Framework of NAAC

To promote the following core values among the HEIs of the country:

• Contributing to National Development
• Fostering Global Competencies among Students
• Inculcating a Value System among Students
• Promoting the Use of Technology
• Quest for Excellence

Benefits of Accreditation

• Institution to know its strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities through an informed review process
• Identification of internal areas of planning and resource allocation
• Collegiality on the campus
• Funding agencies look for objective data for performance funding
• Institutions to initiate innovative and modern methods of pedagogy
• New sense of direction and identity for institutions
• The society look for reliable information on quality education offered
• Employers look for reliable information on the quality of education offered to the prospective recruits
• Intra and inter-institutional interactions

Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA)

Introduction

To ensure that Innovation is primary fulcrum of all HEIs, in the year 2018, Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Govt. of India has introduced ‘Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA)’ to systematically rank education institutions and universities primarily on innovation related indicators. ARIIA considers all major indicators which are commonly used globally to rank most innovative education institutions/ universities in the world.

Objectives of ARIIA

• Setting direction for HEIs towards streamlining and establishing a strong startup ecosystem in campus and region.
• Measuring Innovation & Startup ecosystem based on Input, Process, Output and Outcome based parameters.
• Focusing on both quantity and more on quality aspects of Startup Eco-System available at Institute.
• Also measure the impact created by these innovations and Startups from Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) in society and market.
• Aiming at uplifting India’s Position in the Global Innovation Index from 48th to top 30 in a time period of 5 Years.

Major Indicators for consideration

• Budget & Funding Support.
• Infrastructure & Facilities.
• Awareness, Promotions & support for Idea Generation & Innovation.
• Promotion & Support for Entrepreneurship Development.
• Innovative Learning Methods & Courses.
• Intellectual Property Generation, Technology Transfer & Commercialization.
• Innovation in Governance of the Institution.

Salient Features of ARIIA

• The methodology designed to calculate ARIIA metrics considers all major parameters/ indicators used globally to rank education institutions for innovation output. Additionally, ARIIA also measures some parameters which are India specific considering the current scenario and status of higher education in India.
• The ARIIA parameters are primarily organized in major broad parameters with 7 indicators which are further elaborated into suitable sub-heads. Each broad head has an overall weight assigned to it. Within each head, the various sub-heads also have an appropriate weight distribution.
• To ensure transparency in ranking system, an attempt is also made to identify the relevant data needed to suitably measure the performance score under each sub-head. Emphasis here is on identifying data that the institution can easily provide or is easy to obtain from third party sources and easily verifiable, wherever verification is needed. The overall score is computed based on the weights allotted to each head.
• The overall score can take a maximum value of 100.
• The institutions will be rank-ordered based on their scores.

ARIIA Framework

The framework of ARIIA is comprising of parameters and sub-parameters on following major areas.

• Developing an Innovative and Entrepreneurial Mind-set through Series of Activities
• Teaching and Learning Courses on Innovation, Entrepreneurship & IPR
• Dedicated Infrastructure & Facilities to Promote Innovation & Entrepreneurship at HEI
• Successful Innovation and Start-ups Generated from HEI with Institute’s Support
• Intellectual Property (IP), Generation and Commercialization
• Annual Budget (Expense and Revenue) on Promoting and Supporting I&E Activities