But 13 years after it was set up, the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) has been able to grade only 140 out of India's 409 universities and 3,492 out of 20,676 colleges in India.
Without the power to punish or the carrot of access to funds, it is largely peripheral to the higher education structure in the country.
The problem lies in the NAAC charter. Unlike the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), accreditation with which is practically compulsory for higher technical education institutions, or the Medical Council of India (MCI) which governs standards in medical education, an NAAC grading is optional for higher education bodies.
The trouble is, many institutions don't even know that such a body exists, least of all the private sector which is emerging as a major campus recruiter. Those companies that do know of its existence do not consider it relevant.
"We are aware of NAAC accreditation and gradings but we have our own criteria for grading and choosing institutions according to which we go for campus recruitments," Thomas Simon, vice-president, HR, Tata Consultancy Services, one of the largest private sector recruiters.
The low interest of private institutions shows in the numbers. Of the 140 universities accredited till now, only 32 of them are private universities. And out of 3,492 institutions with NAAC accreditation, private colleges account for just 715.
One key reason for NAAC's irrelevance is that its accreditation is not linked to an incentive such as priority access to University Grants Commission (UGC) funds
NAAC comes under the UGC's control. But even universities and colleges running wholly on UGC funds have not registered with NAAC whose grading process takes just nine months.
So far, only 2,570 of around 6,000 colleges recognised by UGC for funding have received NAAC accreditation, NAAC said. "Out of 625 colleges under Andhra University, only about 20-25 will be having NAAC accreditation," admitted Professor L Venugopal Reddy, vice-chancellor, Andhra University (NAAC - A).
NAAC's problems are compounded by inconsistencies in its grading system.
Before March 2002, NAAC was grading institutions on star status (5 star, 4 star etc). Between March 2002 and March 2007, it was on a nine point scale of A++, A+, A till C grade. Now, it is just A, B and Cs.All this is leading to a review of NAAC in the ministry of human resource development.
"Yes, at present, accreditation by NAAC is not compulsory for the higher education institutions (HEIs), but we are planning to make it mandatory. NAAC is doing a good job but it has to improve its performance," Professor Sukhadeo Thorat, chairman, UGC and president of NAAC's general council, said.
"We plan to cover all the universities and institutions of higher education with NAAC over the 11th Plan in a gradual manner. There is also a proposal to link UGC funding to universities and colleges according to NAAC grades," said Professor V S Prasad, director of NAAC.
But he said accreditation should not just be linked with fund allocation.
"Our grades would tell institutions of higher education their position and help them improve their performance as well as the quality of education (faculties, curriculum, teaching and infrastructure) in their institutions," Prasad said.
"The problem is many of the colleges are not aware of NAAC and benefits of its accreditation. We are conducting an international workshop on accreditation in Mumbai in March where we would emphasise the need of NAAC accreditation," Dr N M Kondap, vice-chancellor, NMIMS University (deemed), Mumbai, told Business Standard.
