KU improves its NAAC rank

The Kashmir University has been accredited ‘A+ Grade University’ by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC).

A NAAC peer team inspected the varsity in the first week ofMay.

   

On Monday, the NAAC announced that the KU has scored 3.31Institutional Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) on a scale of 4, figuringahead of several other leading universities in the country.

The new accreditation will remain effective for a period offive years from July 2017.

Previously, the KU was accredited as ‘A’ grade university byNAAC in 2012, which expired in 2016. The varsity was without NAAC accreditationtill date.

The NAAC is an autonomous body that assesses and accreditshigher education institutions in India. It was formed after recommendationsfrom National Policy on Education (1986), which laid emphasis on upholding thequality of higher education in India.

“Now we (Kashmir University) will be eligible for all sortsof grants provided by any central funding agency. Besides, our certificatesissued to students will also get a new rank,” said Registrar KU Prof. NisarAhmad Mir.

He said the university would also be eligible to apply fornational- and international-level scholarships for students.

The NAAC has assessed the varsity on seven indictors:scoring 3.89 in infrastructure and learning resources, 3.67 in curricularaspects, 3.18 in teaching learning and evaluation, 3.05 in research,innovations and extension, 3.61 in institutional values and best practices, 3.1in governance, leadership and management and 2.94 in student support andprogression.

“Our CGPA in all indicators is above 3 except studentfeedback, which always remains less,” Prof Mir said.

He congratulated the teaching and non-teaching staff andadded the new grade means better job placements for KU students and morefellowships for scholars.

“It will help us to upgrade our infrastructure while we willsucceed in securing better funds from different funding agencies governed byUGC and other bodies,” he said.

For the past one year, the university could not qualify forthe Government of India grants worth Rs 250 crore under RUSA scheme because itsaccreditation had expired in 2016.

An institution accredited by NAAC signifies that it has metcertain standards of excellence across its operations. Apart from makingeducational institution eligible to grants from government of India, there aremajor benefits for students as well.

“We now become eligible for the grants released under thesecond phase. We will reapply for the grants,” the Registrar KU said. He saidthe KU got funds worth only Rs 20 crore under RUSA scheme. Vice-Chancellor KUProf Talat congratulated teaching and non-teaching faculty, students, scholars,alumni and the Directorate of Internal Quality Assurance. He said it was a teameffort and “we succeeded in our efforts”.

“But don’t have to be complacent and we must work harder toachieve a much higher grade next time so that our university gets internationalrecognition,” he said in a press release.

Recently, the Kashmir University bagged 53rd position amongthe universities assessed in the National Institutional Ranking Framework(NIRF)-2019. The varsity also bagged an overall ranking of 79 in the list ofall universities, IITs and other institutions assessed by the MHRD under NIRF.

Meanwhile, Governor Satya Pal Malik, Chancellor of theUniversity of Kashmir, congratulated Prof. Talat Ahmad, his colleagues, staffand students for the A+ accreditation by peer NAAC Team.

Governor has expressed happiness on the impressiveperformance of the university and emphasised upon making it a leading institutein teaching and research.  He wished itsuccess in all its future academic endeavours.

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