Bhubaneswar, April 15: The state government has invited suggestions from stakeholders of higher education on the New Education Policy.

The draft is available on the higher education department website and suggestions to improvise the policy have been sought by April 30. The new policy has suggested the formation of an Accreditation and Assessment System of Odisha.

Though it is mandatory for all educational institutions to be accreditated by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), it is difficult for all colleges of the state to go for it within a specific time frame. Consequently, the state government should establish a state-level accreditation of institutions for assessment of all higher educational institutions. The common assessment and accreditation system for the state identifies the best institutes and compares them with national and international benchmarks of quality, said the policy draft.

The system would ensure that all the higher education institutions are dynamically assessed through self-evaluation and peer review. The entire exercise would be carried out by a dedicated agency assisted by a third party with national and international exposure to ensure to the best of benchmarks of quality, suggested the draft.

The new policy has also suggested updating the 30-year-old University Act, statute and accounts manual and upgrading some colleges into universities. Rajendra College, Balangir, VD College, Jaipur, Rourkela Government College, Government College, Angul and SCS College, Puri can be upgraded into varsities, says the report.

In the existing state universities, the number of affiliated colleges is too many making it difficult for them to manage. The UGC has suggested limiting the strength to a maximum of 100 affiliated colleges per university for effective administration and monitoring. Hence, these colleges should be upgraded to varsities, says the draft.

The autonomous colleges, including GM College, Khallikote College and Rama Devi Women's College, were upgraded to universities last year.

"Interested stakeholders can write to the department and we will deliberate on the suggestions and include them if deemed fit," said a department official.

The state government had formed a task force on education in October 2009 that gave a comprehensive plan of action for 2010 to 2022. The recommendations were under three major categories - restoration, expansion and consolidation.

The state government has already implemented certain recommendations such as establishment of a state council of higher education, taking steps for de-linking Plus Two and Plus Three, introduction of choice-based credit system and teachers' training at all state universities.

In 2015, the Centre started a new education policy for the nation to implement it from the academic year 2016. Consequently, the state government formed a committee in September last to study the taskforce report of 2010 and guidelines of the new education policy of the Centre and prepare a new draft education policy for Odisha.