AN College. Telegraph picture

Patna, Dec. 2: Anugrah Narayan College, popularly known as AN College, has regained A grade, conferred by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (Naac) for quality and excellence in higher education, after a gap of 10 months.

AN College is the second institute in Patna to get Naac’s A grade, the other one being Patna Women’s College under Patna University. Gaya College under Magadh University is the third institute is Bihar to be accredited with the prestigious A grade from Naac.

AN College, established in 1956, is a constituent institute of Magadh University, Bodhgaya. The Naac accreditation will help AN College get funds from the University Grants Commission (UGC) for developing its infrastructure and academic facilities.

This is the second time that AN College has been accredited with the A grade. The college’s accreditation lapsed in January-February 2011 and it regained the recognition after a three-member team from UGC visited the college on October 17 for inspection of academic atmosphere and infrastructure.

Haridwar Singh, the college principal, said: “The three-member team visited the institute from October 17 to 19 and it was impressed with the infrastructure and academic atmosphere. The members inspected various departments and programmes.”

The three-member team of UGC was headed by A.N. Roy, vice-chancellor, North Eastern Hill University, Shillong, Gulshan Rai Kataria, teacher, Punjabi University, Patiala, and Davis George, teacher, St Aloysis College (autonomous), Jabalpur.

Singh said: “Our College is a premier institution under Magadh University, offering undergraduate and post-graduate courses and research facilities in 23 departments besides nine vocational courses.”

“The Naac team members were impressed with our faculty members,” Singh said, adding that the college has 93 permanent faculty members and 28 ad hoc teachers.

“Moreover, 95 per cent of teachers in the college have PhD degrees,” the principal said. At a time when many colleges under Patna University lack Naac accreditation, AN College’s achievement assumes importance. A senior teacher of Patna University, on condition of anonymity, said: “It is shameful for us. We boast of being the seventh oldest university in country but we have only one institute, Patna Women’s College, which is more or less an autonomous college, with Naac accreditation.”

The teacher said: “If a college earns Naac accreditation, it gets national recognition. Several national and international agencies come forward to work with the college.”