NAAC grade renewal: Panjab University working on submitting SSR by March 31
Panjab University has already submitted its Institutional Information for Quality Assessment (IIQA) that officials said had been accepted by NAAC
Eight months after its National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) grade expired, Panjab University (PU) is finally preparing to submit the self-study report (SSR) to the accreditation body by March 31 for the grade’s renewal.
The varsity has already submitted its Institutional Information for Quality Assessment (IIQA) that officials said had been accepted by NAAC.
As per the procedure laid down by the council, IIQA is to be submitted before SSR that is filed 45 days after IIQA acceptance. IIQA ascertains whether an institution is “accreditation ready”.
A review meeting in this regard was also held at the varsity on Wednesday.
PU vice-chancellor (V-C) Renu Vig said, “The meeting was held to analyse the SSR and make any improvements for a better NAAC grade.”
Notably, PU’s NAAC grade had expired on June 24, 2022, but the varsity was not ready to go for another round of accreditation at that time.
NAAC accreditation is a performance indicator for higher educational institutes and is mandatory for applying for funds from central agencies. An NAAC grade ‘A’ is the eligibility criteria for even for the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) grant.
During the last NAAC visit in 2015, the council had given the university an A-grade with a comprehensive score of 3.35 out of four.
The re-application process has been significantly delayed because the university last year struggled to collect the data for SSR for which a panel was also constituted.
Many senators, even PUTA at various occasions, have raised the issue of inordinate delay in the SSR submission.
Meanwhile, the varsity is yet to implement some of the major recommendations made by NAAC team during its last visit, including the consolidation of small cognate departments and recruitment of more faculty members.
