With the government making it mandatory for all educational institutions to undergo National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) accreditation in phases, the Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE) has taken the responsibility of acting as a bridge between the two entities.
“This is necessitated by the stringent norms stipulated by the NAAC and the need for hand-holding the colleges and universities in meeting the same,” said APSCHE Chairman K. Hemachandra Reddy.
Speaking to the media on the sidelines of a workshop on ‘Ensuring operational effectiveness of IQACs in universities’ hosted by SPMVV here on Friday, he said the council’s Quality Assurance Cell would not only fix the benchmark for quality, but also coordinate with the IQACs of the various institutions.
“The APSCHE will provide internal grading to the institutes, and sufficient time will be given ahead of NAAC visit to scale up their performance,” he said. Laying emphasis on the State government’s motto of ensuring highest quality standards in educational institutions, he directed the institutions to get into ‘perform or perish’ mode.
Microsoft certification
Prof. Reddy explained the massive step taken to train 1.62 lakh students in 45 identified skill sets over a year to get them the coveted Microsoft certification. Making over a lakh students employable will be the biggest game-changer, he said, thanking the State government for coming forward to bear the expenditure of ₹30 crore to train the students as part of a pact with Microsoft, which would have otherwise cost over ₹100 crore for the exchequer.
At the workshop, Vice-Chairman K. Rammohan Rao called it a unique platform to share ideas to promote quality in education. “Accredited institutions will mentor the non-accredited (mentee) ones”, he said.
SV University Vice-Chancellors K. Raja Reddy (SVU) and D. Jamuna (SPMVV) hailed the IQACs as capacity-building centres aimed at breathing life into a university. NAAC advisor Sujatha P. Shanbhag called the IQACs to take up the task of self-evaluation ahead of the visit of a peer team from NAAC for external appraisal.
SPMVV Rector D. Sarada and Registrar D.M. Mamatha IQAC Director P. Uma Maheswari Devi were among the participants.
