The four state universities of Jharkhand namely Kolhan University (KU), Nilamber Pitamber University (NPU), Sido Kanhu Murmu University (SKMU) and Vinoba Bhave University (VBU) are yet to be graded by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) at university level.
As a result, the mentioned universities are failing to get special grants from University Grants Commission (UGC) for the welfare of their students since they are not listed in an ‘upto-the-mark’ status, claim intellectuals.
Significantly, none of these universities have been able to fulfil UGC’s criteria involving curricular aspects, teaching-learning and evaluation, research, consultancy and extension, infrastructure and learning process, student support and progression, governance and leadership along with innovative practices as the basis for its assessment procedure since their establishment years.
In 1992, KU was set up at Chaibasa, SKMU at Dumka and VBU was made at Hazaribagh while NPU was formed at Palamau in 2009 respectively. The problems behind this NAAC inspection delay, official sources at VBU said that no new posts for teaching and non-teaching staffs have been sanctioned in the 22 Post Graduate departments here.
“Our university was formed after separation from Ranchi University. The employee strength should be according to the norms of UGC. Unfortunately, government sanctioned new posts for administration but missed the same for our university’s PG staffs. In such scenario, it is obvious that we cannot earn a recognized name among the state universities cadre,” sources added.
Relating this hurdle, KU Registrar Dr DN Mahto said, “In the next one and half month, we will be shifting to our permanent building. Till date no appointments for our 22 PG departments have been done. Unless, we do not posses sufficient teachers and infrastructure, it is not possible to invite NAAC team for inspection.”
Similarly, NPU’s newly appointed Vice Chancellor (VC) Dr AN Ojha felt that it will not be logical to think of NAAC unless they gear up for managing the desired requirements for NAAC. “With a new university like ours there are several challenges. It takes time to settle. As of now, NAAC visit is a distant thought for us,” Ojha maintained.
Notably, in June 2013, a report of The Pioneer had clearly stated that NAAC accreditation is mandatory for survival of any University wherein most of these universities are lining up for the inspection process of NAAC despite not fulfilling the basic NAAC norms.
Meanwhile, except SKMU, the remaining three universities are said to have held NAAC inspection in some of their colleges. “We have just started the process of inviting NAAC for inspection in three of our colleges. Once the inspections are done in 13 constituent colleges and 13 affiliated colleges functioning under us we will initiate NAAC’s inspection at our university level,” SKMU Registrar Prakash Kumar Singh said. Ranchi University too has not been graded by NAAC since its inception.