ACTA Cachar Zone & RMC organises state level workshop on ‘NAAC Revised Accreditation Framework’

March 22: ACTA Cachar Zone in collaboration with IQAC, Radhamadhab College, Silchar organised a State Level Workshop on “NAAC Revised Accreditation Framework” on Tuesday. The workshop was held in the conference hall of Radhamadhab College, Silchar. The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) is a government organization in India that assesses and accredits Higher Education Institutions. It is an autonomous body funded by the University Grants Commission and headquartered in Bangalore.

The workshop on Tuesday began with the inaugural session, which was presided over by Dr Debashish Roy, Principal of Radhamadhab College. The others who graced the inaugural session were Dr Anupam Dutta, Finance Secretary of ACTA Central Committee, Chandan Paul Choudhury, President ACTA, Cachar Zone, Vice President YP Singh and Secretary Hemanta Kr Bora.

The inaugural session was followed by the 1st technical session which was chaired by Dr Anupam Dutta, Finance Secretary of ACTA Central Committee. The guest speakers of this session were Dr Dipankar Kar, Director, Ramanuj Gupta Degree College, Retd. Associate Professor & Head, Dept.of English, GC College & Former IQAC Coordinator, Dr Apurba Chakraborty: Retd. Associate Professor & Head, Dept.of Zoology, Cachar College & Former IQAC Coordinator and Sri Arunabha Battacharjee, Assistant Professor, Deptt of English, Radhamadhab College, Silchar & IQAC Coordinator.

All of them shared their personal experience as they faced NAAC Peer Team during the 2nd cycle of Re-accreditation. They enlightened the audience about the process of seeking NAAC accreditation especially by the newly provincialised colleges. They also highlighted the fact that Govt of Assam has specified that in future the promotion of college teachers will also depend on the fulfillment of different criteria of NAAC assessment. Further, the state govt also stated that those colleges which will fail to get themselves accredited by NAAC will be de-affiliated. It needs mention here that at present NAAC has changed its guidelines and the major part of accreditation process is done online.

The 2nd technical session was chaired by Prof Niranjan Roy of Assam University and also a member of NAAC Peer Team. During the session, Dr Anupam Dutta, Finance Secretary of ACTA Central Committee presented his views on this germane issue. He highlighted that Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), with a record of at least two batches of students graduated, or been in existence for six years, whichever is earlier, are eligible to apply for the process of Assessment and Accreditation (A&A) of NAAC, and fulfill the other conditions or are covered by the other provisions. He also informed that it’s easy for newly provincialised colleges to apply for provisional accreditation with 2 years validity.

Finally, Prof Niranjan Roy addressed the gathering and pointed out various germane aspects associated with the process of NAAC accreditation. Being a member of NAAC Peer Team, Prof. Roy shared his rich experience of visiting various colleges in the country for accreditation. He urged upon the colleges to concentrate upon their unique selling point (USP) instead of running after every other aspect. “NAAC accreditation determines the quality of the institute in terms of education, research, infrastructure, teaching & learning, placement etc. The institution also gets many benefits after getting accreditation by NAAC. It helps the institutes in the allocation of resources,” said Prof Roy.

During the day, ACTA Cachar Zone felicitated Sudarshan Gupta,Central Executive Committee (CEC) for being nominated in the ACTA Central Committee as Assistant Secretary of areas under the jurisdiction of Assam University. This is for the 1st time that ACTA has announced 4 new Assistant Secretaries for four affiliating universities in Assam.

The workshop was attended by teachers from 11 colleges of Cachar. These are Cachar College, Silchar, GC College. Silchar, Women’s College, Silchar, Radhamadhab College, Silchar, MCD College, Sonai, Janata College, Kabuganj, Nehru College, Pailapool, SR College, Kalain, JN Singh College, Udharbond, Silchar College, Silchar and MK Dey College, Amraghat. The programme came to an end with the singing of the National Anthem.