100 'NAAC colleges' in a year

Even as most colleges in Bihar had hitherto been shying away from getting themselves accredited by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), more and more colleges are now coming forward to go in for the quality check exercise. Thanks to the initiative taken by the chancellors office, at least 100 colleges of the state are likely to get NAAC certification within a year.

Chancellor R S Gavai is very keen on getting the maximum number of colleges accredited with a view to raise their infrastructural facilities and improving the quality of education. For expediting the process of accreditation and motivating the institutions for undertaking this exercise, a seven-member state-level core committee headed by Patna Women’s College principal Sister Doris D’Souza has been constituted by the chancellor.

Under the guidance of R Krishna Kumar, OSD (universities) to the chancellor, the core committee conducted a two-day workshop at Patna Women’s College recently which was attended by five senior teachers, including principal, each from as many as 24 colleges of Patna, Magadh, Veer Kuar Singh and Jayaprakash universities.

After going through a series of brainstorming sessions, the participants became quite enthusiastic about the NAAC accreditation process. They also filled up the letter of intention (LOI) and eligibility forms and submitted the same to the core committee for verification.

Kumar, however, feels that colleges need not volunteer for NAAC accreditation until they prepare themselves well, otherwise they may be awarded poor grade. Colleges must have all the basic amenities of classrooms, laboratories, libraries, sports and games, computers, internet and sanitation, besides holding seminars and conferences at regular intervals. Colleges must also develop eco-friendly systems and establish a closer interaction with the community, he adds.

The core committee, at its meeting held at Raj Bhawan on Saturday, decided to organise a day-long workshop for the principals and coordinators of 75 selected colleges from eight universities here on November 27.