NEP 2020 Accreditation Framework

The National Education Policy 2020 envisages accreditation as the principal mechanism for assuring quality while granting higher education institutions greater autonomy. It places accreditation within the proposed Higher Education Commission of India, with assessment undertaken by independent accreditors under national oversight.

Institutional architecture

The policy proposes HECI as an umbrella body with four independent verticals, separating functions that were previously concentrated within regulatory institutions.

• The National Higher Education Regulatory Council would act as the common regulator, except for medical and legal education.
• The National Accreditation Council would serve as the meta-accrediting body rather than directly conducting every assessment.
• The Higher Education Grants Council would handle funding, while the General Education Council would frame expected learning outcomes and the National Higher Education Qualification Framework.

How accreditation would operate

Institutional accreditation would be conducted by an independent ecosystem of accrediting institutions that are recognized, supervised and overseen by NAC.

• Assessment would rely primarily on basic norms, public self-disclosure, good governance and educational outcomes.
• Transparent criteria and disclosed information would allow regulators, learners and the public to hold institutions accountable.
• The functional separation of accreditation from regulation and funding seeks to reduce conflicts of interest and promote consistent quality assurance.

Graded progression towards autonomy

In the short term, the policy envisages graded accreditation with phased benchmarks for quality, self-governance and autonomy. Each institution would use an institutional development plan to progress towards higher accreditation levels.

• Over an envisaged 15-year period, higher education institutions would seek to become autonomous, self-governing, degree-granting institutions or clusters.
• In the long run, accreditation is intended to become a binary process after institutions have progressively achieved prescribed quality benchmarks.

How UPSC asks this