In higher education institutes, “Accreditation” is considered as a reputed standard for checking the quality of education offered to the students. NBA or NAAC are the trusted organizations for accreditation, in terms of the education standards offered in institutes. Further, the introduction of NEP 2020 has made it compulsory for the institutes to apply for accreditation and get good accreditation grades to attain the “Autonomous Status”
Students consider accreditation as a major factor to check for the quality of education offered in colleges to apply for admission. Further, accreditation opens various doors for the institutions in terms of companies offering jobs to the students, research facilities, funds as well as government grants. All the institutes are required to follow certain accreditation guidelines for quality assurance to get good grades.
What is NBA Accreditation?
The National Board of Accreditation, also known as the NBA is an accreditation organization that represents India in the Washington Accord (WA). It is an accreditation body in India and deals with the accreditation of engineering colleges and various technical institutions. There is a set of rules and guidelines issued by the NBA, which are the only parameters to certify the institutions.
Any institution applying for NBA and wishing for successful accreditation must ensure that all these guidelines are strictly followed and all the documents, proofs, and information are completely true, authentic, and free from any errors.
- Improves Teaching-Learning Methods
NBA accreditation requires the institutes to perform well in their academic and non-academic aspects. There is a set of guidelines and expectations from the institutes which are needed to be fulfilled by the institute to get good accreditation scores. The institutes have to identify the gaps between the current institute’s management and expectations as per the accreditation.
The colleges focus on building strategies that will develop the required teaching-learning methods in the institutes. Further, they conduct a check to see if all the shortcomings of the institute are fulfilled. The institutes aim to improve the learning outcomes of the students. It helps them to initiate quality improvement programs, seminars, and activities.
- Academic Growth
Institutions are becoming more aware of the new methods of learning apart from the traditional ways. They are adapting outcome-based educational approaches to evaluate the student’s progress at every step of their college life and guide them.
This helps the students to be clear about what they have to achieve at the end of every course. The new educational approaches are more inclined towards building skills and experience among the students. It makes them ready for employment opportunities, and future studies. Further, it helps to conduct regular assessments helping the students to find their strengths, weaknesses, and shortcomings in the syllabus.
- Experiences and Skill Development
The NBA accreditation requirements have a major focus on improving the skills of students and making them employable and capable for the future. In the traditional method of education, the students majorly studied for scoring good marks and grades. This created a gap between the student’s capabilities and industry requirements.
To make the students ready as per industry requirements, the education methods and colleges are expected to focus on building new skills and qualities among the students. This includes education through internships, projects, experiences, and others. Hence, NBA is also making sure that the institutes are taking the right measures to improve the skills of the students and make them employable for the future.
- College Autonomy
The colleges that have gained accreditation from the NBA can apply for the autonomous institute. The institutes must be successfully accredited to attain autonomous status.
An autonomous institute is one that exercises its own control over the daily activities and operations of the institute. They decide the curriculum and they are not obliged to follow the guidelines given by the government body. They work independently without the requirement of the university to govern them.
Autonomous colleges have the ability to keep themselves updated with the rising advances in technologies. This makes them a major preference among the students for admissions, hence enrolling bright and promising students for the institutes.
- Applying for Grants & Funds
Autonomous institutes can apply for grants, and funds for improving infrastructure and offering top-class facilities to the students for education and research. It can promote the institute’s capital and benefit the students in various ways. It helps the institute in the implementation of various technologies that can make students informed about new tools.
Further, the resource allocation and optimization in institutes can help them focus on offering scholarships to students in need. This increases the institute’s reputation and gives a highly advanced educational experience to them. Also, institutes improve their management styles, working methods and reduce employee workload.
- Socio-Economic Development of the Students
NBA accreditation makes the student socioeconomically aware and intelligent. It facilitates the mobility of students as well as teaching professionals. It creates an environment where the students grow as socially responsible adults and improve socio-economic growth by creating high skilled technical members in society.
- Increases Professionalism
The institutes are expected to undertake soft skill development programs, courses for improving leadership skills, and others. The institutes conduct programs for training the teachers to make them ready to carry out classes in an engaging manner, which will improve students’ skills.
The teachers can develop an environment in the classroom where the students are free to talk their minds, express ideas, and think creatively. In this way, the students are well versed with the culture outside of their college life, which makes them ready for future opportunities.
Conclusion
The accreditation helps the institutes in several ways by improving their management and teaching-learning. It further helps the institutes to improve their NIRF rankings every year.
To apply for accreditation, the institutes can implement an accreditation management system in their institute which can help them to manage accreditation data, generate reports in required formats and upload proofs and documents from all the departments.
