NAAC Accreditation process:

NAAC’s process of quality assurance is similar to those that are followed by the other Quality Assurance (QA) agencies present worldwide.

According to the Revised Accreditation Framework (RAF) 2020, the NAAC has a timely step-by-step ICT-enabled accreditation process. The new process Student Satisfaction Survey, Data Verification, and Validation that augments the whole objective of NAAC.

We could feel your pressure to get NAAC accredited. We, therefore, have broken down these three big processes into seven steps, without affecting its flow. We assume you find this easy and helpful to follow.

Here is the order of the nationally accepted NAAC Process,

1. HEIs registration in the NAAC website
2. Institutional Information for Quality Assessment (IIQA)
3. SSR submission on acceptance of IIQA (On rejection, an institute has 2 attempts to RESUME the IIQA form within 1 year)
4. Proceed to Data Validation & Verification (DVV) process and Pre-qualifier Score
5. Preparation towards the Student Satisfaction Survey (SSS)
6. Peer Visit by NAAC
7. NAAC announces the Institutional Grading

Majorly there are 5 steps in which the entire NAAC Accreditation process is done, which are as follows,

1. IIQA Submission
2. SSR Submission
3. DVV Process
4. Student Satisfaction Survey (SSS)
5. Peer Team Visit (PTV)

First of all an institution needs to get an Institutional  login Id from the NAAC Portal simply by registering institution on NAAC Portal. There are no charges for registering institution ! that is called HEI’s registration in the NAAC Website.

1. IIQA : Once HEI’s registration is done online, Next  main step is to institution go for IIQA  Submission.

 For the Submission of IIQA ( Institutional Information for Quality Assessment)  mainly the documents required are,

(i) SRA ( Statutory Regulatory Authority ) like UGC / AICTE  Extension of Approval (EoA) for Current Academic Year (CAY)

(ii) University affiliation letter for current academic year (CAY) for all programs,

(iii ) All  India Survey of  Higher Education (AISHE) Registration Certificate,

(iv) Self Declaration regarding programs and courses by Principal          

(v) Registration fee: GST as applicable as per Institution Category

Key Points related to IIQA

• Upload first IIQA  during the year starting from June; along with  prescribed registration fee  – Link is open throughout the year.
• If IIQA  is rejected, two more chances within the same fees – NAAC will communicate reasons f or rejection – overcome deficiencies and upload  again,
• If  IIQA  is accepted , upload the SSR on the NAAC Portal  within 45 days from the date of acceptance of  IIQA along with  50% of  the prescribed  fees.
• In case of failure to upload SSR within 45 days; you will have to start the process afresh along with registration accreditation fees
• SSR uploading is now  open throughout the year
• No hard copy of  IIQA & SSR – submission of documents only ONLINE now

2. Self Study Report (SSR)

SSR Format needs two sets of documents – Qualitative and Quantitative.

In case of Quantitative Metrics, list of documents required are listed  in the NAAC Manual  and  the Standard  Operating Procedure (SOP), also available on the NAAC Website. They need to be arranged as per  list contained  in each  Metrics or respective SOP. Physical documents to be made in to e­-verifiable documents.

Some Key points for DATA & DOCUMENTATION of NAAC

• Institutions will have to gather information and corresponding documents year-wise for 5 years. For this, it is important to institutionalise a structured Data/ Documentation MIS Portal for ready availability of data and documents
• Make it mandatory for faculty/staff to compile and upload Annual /Semester/Monthly Performance Report, for ready availability of data.
• Data Gaps negatively affects averages and  weighted  score and finally on NAAC Grade !

NAAC GURU with NAAC SSR Software could help you in faster report generation and improve your NAAC grade and the CGPA points. The institution not only gets to collate and upload the complicated NAAC documents easily but also gets to evaluate itself on various parameters and find ways for improvement for that we provide consultancy contact points as well along software.

3. DATA Validation & Verification (DVV) :

his process is simply for ‘DOCUMENTS VERIFICATION’ in short,

Every claim made by the institution needs to be verified and validated thats why it is called as data validation and verification. Verification is important particularly when claims could be doubtful, manipulated,  exaggerated in the SSR. As members of Peer Team, we have come across a lot of even understatement of claims in large number of colleges.

When we talk about prior to 2017, most of the claims used to get verified during PT interaction with faculty/departments/office etc. Yet there was physical verification of relevant documents for which one session was provided during PT visit, when all documents used to be arranged in the institution to facilitate formal verification.

Instructions in the form of Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for DVV are available on the NAAC Website to avoid any confusion. You may refer  your institution SOP with Manual as per the category, i.e. General Institution, Health Science Institution etc..

SOP has listed all the relevant documents and supporting evidence needed for each of the Matrices.

The Physical Documents to E-Documents:

Any institution seeking accreditation will have to convert the relevant documents from physical to electronic format for online submission and e-verification.The size of data and the documents to be uploaded may vary from institution to institution; but the NAAC Portal may have restrictions.

In case the documents size is more than what NAAC Portal will take, the same may  be uploaded  on the institutional  website with a link to NAAC Portal.For this purpose, colleges will have to make the Website facilitative and dynamic.  This will also help colleges to accelerate shift to e-governance and paperless administration.

DVV Timeline & Some other Important Key Points:

• Timeline : No flexibility in deviation with respect to Quantitative Data Metrics.
• Every claim needs to be supported with documents, such as minutes of meetings,  decisions, statements of  accounts , letters/ orders/notifications, certificates, approvals, etc as specially mentioned. they are in bulk, hyperlink to the appropriate website may be given.
• There is fixed timeline for  the  entire  DVV  process, which  is to be strictly followed. If not responded  with in the stipulated  time, whatever values uploaded  before expiry of  timeline, will be taken as final – no extension of  timeline.
• Failure to upload full data/documents  will adversely affect institutional score. Wherever  Asterisk  Red Mark* appears,  it should be understood  as mandatory  requirement.

What if Reconstruction of Documents Required ?

Data unaccompanied by relevant  e-verifiable  documents will make  the  data  redundant . If the documents are not available with the primary external sources (like university, government), institution will have to reconstruct the document  from internal  sources (office or recipient faculty) – as all the correspondence from the external agencies must have been received  by the teacher  or college office Such documents will have outward numbers, date and address of the issuing authority along with copy endorsement. Gather missing documents from endorsed entities and upload on your website for e-verification.

4. Student Satisfaction Survey:

The Survey contains 20 Objective & 1 subjective Questions which are asked post submission of SSR normally 3-4 days after SSR submission.

 

5. Peer Team Visit (PTV)

Key Points :

• This stage is called as Pre-qualifier stage (eligibility) for PT visit if :

–  DVV is accepted, and Institution scored a minimum 30%   score) on the  Quantitative Matrices (excluding SSS)

• PT visit is organized with in 30 days from the date of clearing the  pre-qualifier stage
• PT will confine to the 30% Qualitative Aspects & the institutional SWOC
• PT will interact with stakeholders, verify documents, facilities and any other issues which may be referred to NAAC