The National Accreditation and Assessment Council (NAAC) has released the latest ranking statuses of affiliated institutes across the country, as approved by its 20th standing committee on the 16th of December this year. However, unlike previous years, it is shocking that not a single college from the national capital has been featured amongst the toppers.
The 20th standing committee, held on 16th December, 2016, released its evaluated list of institutes that had been certified by the governing body. In Delhi and NCR, of the 35 colleges selected for the survey, the prestigious Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) has received an outstanding A+ grade. Apart from this, no other college has been awarded a top grade. Another elite institution, St Stephen's, was awarded the 12th rank in the survey.
The ratings and grades have been awarded to the institutions based on the status of the quality of education, infrastructure and a host of other parameters and will be valid for the next 5 years. The National Accreditation and Assessment Council also released the list of parameters considered to conduct the evaluations. These include important variables like methods of teaching, learning, examinations and evaluations, research and consultancy, learning and infrastructure, support offered to students, leadership, administration and general governance and best practices and new developments.
Institutions with an average score of 3.74 to 4 are awarded the esteemed A++ grade and it is compulsory that all running educational institutions apply and go through the evaluation process to be graded by the NAAC. In Delhi, Shri Ram College of Commerce tallied a total score of 3.65, followed by Lady Shri Ram College for Women (3.61), which was closely followed by Hindu college with an average score of 3.60. The evaluation was done as per the mandate by the Delhi University for periodic assessments and grade revisions.
A St Stephen’ faculty member, Nandita Narain, opined that though the rankings look low, there is no difference in the quality education being offered or the quality of student teacher interactions in the campus. The Principal of Hindu College, Anuja Shrivastava, added that the NAAC evaluation criteria should be broadened to include extracurricular activities, student life and reputation of the college amongst the public.