A notch below

Guwahati, March 30: Gauhati University has missed the coveted “A” grade status granted by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council, for failing to reform and innovate academic practices and connect with the corporate sector and other universities.

A meeting of the executive committee of the NAAC held in New Delhi on Sunday refused to accord the prestigious status to the region’s oldest university for its inability to attain high levels of academic accomplishments.

Ganesh Hegde, the assistant adviser of NAAC — an autonomous body established by the University Grants Commission to assess and accredit institutions of higher education in the country — today said the university was given “B” grade, which was “good” but left room for a lot of improvement.

He said NAAC would send the detailed assessment report to the university highlighting its academic drawbacks within a few days. “The NAAC will send its recommendations and suggestions to Gauhati University which are expected to be implemented by the university for its overall improvement and excellence in the next five years or before the next assessment due in 2015.”

A six-member NAAC team visited the university in the third week of this month and made a spot assessment to accord the grade status.

The council had awarded four-star status equivalent to “B” grade to the institution after its assessment in 2001.

A source in the NAAC said the council had found non-implementation of semester system at the undergraduate level, inadequate examination reform initiatives, absence of innovative practices in teaching and learning, little academic collaborations with the corporate sector and other institutes, including foreign ones. Besides, it also marked the absence of a vision plan to introduce modern courses.

“The NAAC was not happy with the present intra and inter-institutional interactions of the university. The university’s initiatives in leadership building and outreaching programmes are not satisfactory. Infrastructure, particularly modern library and laboratory facilities, are found lacking,” the source said.

The NAAC has allotted 2.91 cumulative grade point average to the university on seven criteria — curricular aspects, teaching-learning and evaluation research, consultancy and extension, infrastructure and learning resources, student support and progression, governance and leadership and innovative practices — which serve as the basis of its assessment procedure.

According to the NAAC, only institutions which get a minimum CGPA of 3.01 on a 4 point maximum scale are given an “A”. The institution with a high level of academic accomplishment is marked “Very Good”. CGPA in the range 2.01 to 3 gets a “B” grade, meaning “Good”.

Bhabesh Chandra Goswami, the university’s chief co-ordinator with NAAC, refused to comment before receiving the final assessment report from the council.

The NAAC, on the other hand, has awarded Patkai Christian College, an autonomous institution in Nagaland, an “A” grade status with a CGPA of 3.06.