SHUBHANGI SHIFA
Ranchi, July 4: St Xavier’s College recently received a B plus grade (CGPA 2.51) from the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC). However, earlier, when graded in 2013, the college had received an A grade (CGPA 3.2). Notably, NAAC has graded several colleges and universities this year.
When questioned about the lowered grades this year, Principal Fr Dr N Lakda SJ said, “We have all the facilities that are to be provided for the NAAC grading, however, this time, we did not realise that we had to start submitting reports and documents beforehand.”
“We were unable to update all the reports, and by the end, it was too late, which is why we received a B+ grade this year. We have also appealed to NAAC for a grade change,” the principal further added.
As per officials at the college, after getting the autonomous status in 2005, St. Xavier’s College had also received the status of College with Potential for Excellence by the UGC in the year 2006.
Notably, the 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 their conformance to the standards of quality in terms of their 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.
Meanwhile, according to the grade list released by NAAC from January 2022 till now, Gautam Buddha Teachers Training College, Hazaribagh and Patamda Degree College Jamshedpur have received a B grade. Guru Nanak College in Dhanbad had appealed to change the grade, however, no change was made by NAAC. Grizzly College of Education Jhumritilaiya has also got a B grade.
Grading from NAAC is important as under the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), only those universities and colleges will get funds from the Centre, which would have been recognized by NAAC. Jharkhand Higher and Technical Education Department, as a result, has directed all universities, colleges and institutions to get accreditation from NAAC by the year 2023. About 60 percent of educational institutions in Jharkhand are not yet recognized by NAAC. The department has warned that such institutions will be shut down if they do not have recognition.
