Just 25% colleges, 50% universities in Maharashtra are NAAC accredited

MUMBAI: A comprehensive analysis of accredited institutions in the state by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) has revealed that public universities and affiliated colleges in the state are lagging on several counts—from not aligning courses with market and industry needs to not filling vacant teaching positions, and an average performance in research and innovations—despite showing remarkable improvement in performance in the current cycle.
While the report mentioned 50% universities and only about 25% colleges in the state have a valid NAAC accreditation, Maharashtra still leads the country in total number of accredited institutions.

The report was released by governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Tuesday.
In their report, NAAC peer teams have recommended adopting a ‘cafeteria’ approach to allow students to choose from a range of courses, bringing in a regulation to direct industries’ CSR funds to colleges and universities.

The report puts the performance of deemed universities in the state, both government and private, ahead of public universities, in terms of curriculum, innovations and infrastructure. In fact, government-funded TISS, Institute of Chemical Technology and TIFR are among the top three universities in the state. The NAAC report reveals 85% of deemed universities are accredited against 50% public ones.
Of the total 7,172 colleges in the state (affiliated plus standalone) only 1,711 have a valid NAAC accreditation. The peer teams analysed the performance of 30 universities and 1,367 of accredited colleges for the report. Of these, 43% are from Savitribai Phule Pune University and Mumbai University alone. It was observed the source of funding (government, aided or self-financed) and location of colleges (urban or rural) also attribute to the performance of colleges. Autonomous and minority colleges— with special status—also performed better than general.
In the qualitative analysis, the peer teams, while lauding state universities’ performance in developing infrastructure and learning resources and improvement in research awareness, have criticised the weak interface between universities and poor engagement with foreign universities. In comparison with other state universities, Pune, Mumbai and Nagpur have a locational advantage and are doing better in recognition and government funding, stated the report. Funding is a major concern, it said.
Educationist R S Mali, former vice-chancellor, North Maharashtra University, said that fewer colleges opting for accreditation is a problem in the country. Only 20% of the colleges in the country are accredited and of the total, Maharashtra has 20%.