Mumbai university may miss NAAC grade yet again

This March will mark four years since the University of Mumbai’s (MU) National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) grade lapsed. It is unlikely that MU will receive a grade before the start of the next academic year.

It has been almost six weeks since MU submitted its self-study report (SSR) to the NAAC committee, but there has been no response from the officials.

“We have officially finished submitting every last document required by the grading committee and are currently waiting to hear from them about the team which will conduct a physical visit to our campus,” said a senior official from MU.

Once the SSR is submitted, a peer team from the NAAC committee visits the university to verify the details submitted in the application.

Thereafter, the committee takes around six months to announce the new grade for the university.

This means the NAAC grade is impossible for the current academic year or the beginning of the next academic year.

“We were sure of a peer team visit in mid-February, but with rising Covid-19 cases in the city as well as around the country, it looks like the physical visit will be delayed until further notice,” said the MU official.

The official added that while it took time to put together the documents required for the application, by December 2019, the varsity had submitted the Institutional Information for Quality Assessment (IIQA) and the same was approved by the apex grading body.

The process for SSR, however, got delayed as MU was shut for at least six months in 2020 due to the pandemic. The IIQA is a document recording the university’s compliance with the criteria and policies of the NAAC committee. SSR is a form of self-evaluation to identify strengths and rectify deficiencies.

NAAC accreditation is a performance indicator for higher educational institutes and is mandatory for funds from Central agencies. The university had a ‘Grade A’ score from NAAC in 2012. However, the score expired in March 2017 after MU failed to apply for re-accreditation in time.

“The fact that the university sat on the re-application process in 2017 itself was a big mistake, but not having managed to complete this process for almost four years now is unacceptable. Several students have suffered over the years and we hope the problem ends soon,” said Vaibhav Narwade, a senate member of MU.