Resignation brings hope of overhaul for India’s rankings

The recent resignation of the head of India’s university accreditation body over manipulation concerns has prompted an inquiry into the country’s government-run university rankings, raising hopes for a “complete overhaul” of the system.

This month, Bhushan Patwardhan, chairman of India’s National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) executive committee, stepped down from his post, saying that the rankings for universities had been compromised, “leading to awarding of questionable grades”. Professor Patwardhan called for an independent inquiry into the matter.

The high-profile departure has led to scrutiny of the process by which Indian universities are graded in the NAAC’s national ranking, which affects their ability to receive government funding and conduct research, and which academics fear is no longer a reliable measure of institutions’ performance.

An Indian academic from a top university who has been involved in the accreditation process and wished to remain anonymous, given working ties with officials in the Ministry of Education, told Times Higher Education he hoped that Professor Patwardhan’s resignation could be the final push needed to bring about change to the long-running problems in a system that he believes needs “complete overhaul”.

“We have discussed this in our university. We feel that the NAAC does not capture true quality and [that] excessive reliance [on] procedures has opened up windows for institution leaders to fabricate the process and score full marks,” he said.

The academic said that getting the house in order was especially important as India moves toward bringing the NAAC under the auspices of the National Accreditation Council – a “meta-accrediting body” meant to oversee the quality of higher education.

While he cautioned against more private companies entering the quality assurance market, which he worried could lead to more manipulation of the system, the scholar praised the suggestion of a high-level inquiry as a good first step toward addressing problems.

“The government must show willingness to fix it,” he said, adding that the response would show whether authorities “desire real genuine reforms of the higher-education sector”.

In an editorial last year, scholars writing in THE also critiqued the process, saying that universities used loopholes to score better on the ranking.

“It is evident that institutions focus on the particular indicators audited by the NAAC team during their infrequent visits,” said Kaibalyapati Mishra, a junior research fellow, and Krishna Raj, a professor of economics, at the Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore.

“They repaint and refurnish their buildings, suddenly come up with long-promised student equipment and fill vacant faculty positions with contractual staff.”

pola.lem@timeshighereducation.com