IITs, IIMs may be told to rate, certify institutes

New Delhi: The Centre is looking to rope in IITs and IIMs to share the job of evaluation and accreditation, in its effort to ensure transparency and cut time taken for accreditation of institutes of higher education.

HRD minister Prakash Javadekar said that a meeting with eight IITs and eight IIMs is on the cards to expand the base of evaluating agencies. Currently, accreditation is carried out solely by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), an autonomous institution under the UGC. While the government think-tank Niti Ayog had recommended that the ministry allow accreditation by reputed private players earlier this year, Javadekar said that the government was instead looking at using resources from within. “We have a huge talent pool of teachers and students who can use the entire exercise of evaluation as a learning tool,” he said.

Even though some IITs have shown their reservations towards participating as agencies citing faculty shortage.