One nation, one data: NAAC chairman

MUMBAI: The Centre is considering an ambitious programme to create a ‘One Nation One Data’ (ONOD) platform for institutes of higher education in the country.

On Friday, chairman of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council, Bhushan Patwardhan, in his speech at a one-day state-level conference on accreditation: ‘The Way Forward’ hosted by the University of Mumbai said, ONOD platform can have a significant advantage for higher education institutions to deposit data so that NAAC can have access to real-time credible data.

“In such a scenario, the role of the peer team visit (to universities and colleges) might remain limited to a facilitatory mechanism, and the assessment (towards getting NAAC grading) may become more precise, unbiased and meaningful. While moving along the technology-enabled path, it is vital to ensure that the processes are aligned to the principle of equity and access, articulated by NEP 2020,” said Patwardhan.

He further added that the evaluation should be wellplanned, with the calendar of educational institutions and the conduct of continuous internal evaluation – the NAAC evaluation should be treated as an opportunity to improve standards and quality and not as an

NAAC EVALUATION SHOULD BE TREATED AS AN OPPORTUNITY TO IMPROVE QUALITY AND STANDARDS

inspection. Patwardhan further said, “The criteria for accreditation and assessment will be function- and outcome-based on general education, skills and abilities for specialised education as well as contribution to research and innovation.”

At present, NAAC undertakes only institutional accreditation, with expert groups working on programme accreditation. “We propose assessment-based accreditation (binary) for the four categories of HEI as recommended by NEP 2020, namely, affiliated colleges (AFCs), autonomous colleges (AUCs), Teaching Universities (TUs), and research universities (RUs). This would include institutions of professional education, traditional knowledge systems, and vocational training, Patwardhan added. The criteria of evaluation common to all categories will be spelled out, along with the additional criteria specific to each category. This means that a common manual must be developed, with subsections for each category, he said.