No Naac grades for Telangana universities until new rule

Hyderabad: Universities can’t seek accreditation from the National Assessment and Accreditation Council until the proposed TS Universities Bill is passed and vice-chancellors are appointed to state universities. This is a slightly bigger impediment considering that the University Grants Commission has made Naac accreditation compulsory for release of funds.

None of the universities currently has a Naac accreditation, though some of them like the Osmania and Kakatiya universities and JNTU Hyderabad were accredited in the past. Their accreditations have now expired. Fresh inspections of the universities for Naac accreditation are not advised unless they are fully staffed and equipped. This means universities will not get accreditation until vice-chancellors are appointed and vacant faculty positions are filled.

In a recent PIL, the Hyderabad HC gave the TS government three months to make sure that vice-chancellors were appointed to all universities.

The OU is fairly safe considering its tag as ‘University with Potential for Excellence’ granted by the UGC. But for others, the situation is tricky.

The TSCHE and the government are preparing the State Higher Education Plan for submission to the Centre to seek funding for universities under the Rashtriya Uchchattar Shiksha Abhiyan (National Higher Education Mission). But this too can’t go through unless vacancies are filled.