Committee Roles in Higher Education Reforms

The University Grants Commission (UGC) is a statutory body established by the government of India responsible for coordinating and determining standards of university education in India.

NAAC evaluates and accredits higher education institutions (HEIs) every five years, assigning them a grade based on their performance.

NBA assesses and accredits technical programs in India, giving them recognition for six or three-year periods.

AICTE is responsible for approving all technical programs in educational institutions in India annually.

NIRF is an annual ranking framework for higher education institutions in India, taking into account factors like teaching, research, and outreach.

The Washington Accord is an international agreement recognizing the quality of undergraduate engineering education provided by member countries, facilitating the mobility of engineering graduates and professionals.

The Washington Accord membership is an international sign of the high quality of engineering education offered by a country.

Programs accredited by NBA offered by Tier-1 Engineering/Technology Institutes are recognized by other Washington Accord signatories for higher studies and work.

The platform's architecture is designed to ensure secure access to data, maintain data quality, and streamline data management. It also enables the integration of data from external sources and compatibility with national digital frameworks.

Data from different institutions is standardized into a single format, including essential variables, before being added to the platform. This ensures consistency and ease of analysis.

Higher education institutions (HEIs) can submit their data once to the platform, with yearly updates, simplifying their data reporting process.

The platform incorporates a flexible data management system with 'business logics' that facilitate data analysis for various purposes, including approval, accreditation, and rankings.

The platform leverages collateral data and crowdsourcing to ensure the accuracy and trustworthiness of data through external validation, reducing the need for manual verification by physical teams.

The platform allows data exchange with other government agencies and national systems for collaboration and data integration. This fosters a unified digital ecosystem for education.

The platform ensures compliance with national digital frameworks like NDEAR, InDEA 2.0, and GATISHAKTI, promoting interoperability and seamless data exchange.

The platform's features are designed to support national digital initiatives related to higher education such as SAMARTH, Swayam 2.0, AISHE Portal, Digilocker, and Academic Bank of Credits, fostering a connected digital ecosystem for education.

A committee formed by the Department of Higher Education (DHE), Ministry of Education (MoE), Government of India to strengthen the accreditation processes of NAAC, NBA, and NIRF, and make recommendations for more institutions to participate in accreditation. It also aims to align these organizations with the proposed National Accreditation Council (NAC) in HECI.

A committee formed by the DHE, MoE, under the chairpersonship of Prof. Anil Sahasrabudhe, Chairman of NETF, to ensure the new system for accreditation/assessment/ranking, as proposed by the overarching committee, is finalized and launched in ‘Mission Mode’.

A committee formed by the UGC in 2022 to understand the NAAC methodology from a multidimensional perspective, explore best practices from similar accrediting agencies in developed nations, and identify improvements to encourage HEI participation and increase confidence among stakeholders.

A committee formed in August 2022, led by Prof. J.P. Joorel, to conduct a systematic audit of the NAAC assessment and accreditation system for optimization and future enhancements.

A committee formed in September 2022 by the Director of NAAC to assess NAAC's ICT systems and capabilities.

A national platform designed to gather, organize, and store data from various universities for both accreditation and ranking processes.

A method for verifying the accuracy and authenticity of the data submitted by higher education institutions (HEIs) to ensure data integrity.

The idea that all educational institutions nationwide should use a standardized system for sharing and managing data, aiming to simplify processes and reduce administrative burden.

The framework should recognize the diverse missions, locations (urban, rural, tribal), and contexts of various institutions while evaluating them.

The process of assessing the quality of HEI's programs, resources, and teaching practices, influencing their reputation and opportunities.

A systematic process that compares different HEIs based on certain criteria, providing a ranking list that reflects their strengths and weaknesses.

A mechanism for resolving grievances related to accreditation and ranking processes, ensuring fairness and transparency.

While optional, encouraging all HEIs to participate in accreditation and ranking processes periodically is seen as beneficial for maintaining standards and improving their performance.

Evaluates and accredits both institutions and programs, ensuring quality standards in higher education and facilitating international recognition.

A standardized set of areas used to assess the quality of a program, focusing on key aspects like curriculum, faculty, research, and infrastructure.

Measures the overall performance of an institution, considering its resources, infrastructure, and governance.

A visual representation showcasing an institution's performance across various program domains using a multi-pointed star, where each spoke's length represents the performance level in that domain.

The process of providing guidance and support to institutions that are struggling to meet accreditation standards, helping them improve their practices.

The frequency with which an institution or program undergoes re-evaluation to ensure ongoing quality standards are maintained.

Aims to streamline the accreditation process, making it easier for institutions, especially during their initial accreditation.

The practice of eliminating annual re-approvals for already accredited institutions, provided their programs remain largely unchanged.

A layer in system architecture that ensures data storage is independent of specific database engines. It allows for flexible data management and provides a consistent API for interacting with different databases.

A security architecture that protects data on a central platform by implementing multiple layers of security. It includes malware protection, access control, user authentication, and role-based permissions.

A security measure that defines the level of access users have to data and services based on their roles and permissions.

A layer in system architecture that handles the adaptation and format of data. It allows for storing data in various formats, including XML, and facilitates flexible data modeling.

A type of database that uses a flexible schema and stores data in various formats, such as key-value pairs, documents, or columns. It offers an application-centric approach to data storage, allowing for dynamic structure changes.

Storing data in XML format allows for a structured representation of information, making it easier to exchange and process data between different applications.

Key-value pairs in NoSQL are used for storing and retrieving data. This approach allows for quick and efficient data access, as data is stored in simple key-value pairs and can be retrieved directly by the corresponding key.

The ability to store any kind of data, such as integers, strings, arrays, documents, or images, in a flexible and scalable way.