The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NACC), in its analysis of accredited higher education institutions (HEIs) in Maharashtra, said the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT) and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) rank among the top three universities. The cumulative grade point average (CGPA)s of these government and government-aided deemed universities ranges from 3.68 points to 3.89 points. Among the top 10 accredited universities, only one state public university, Savitribai Phule Pune University, appears at the fifth spot with A-plus grade and 3.60 CGPA points.
Notably, deemed universities take the lead in ranking and overall performance in the state. Baring Savitribai Phule Pune University and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University in Aurangabad, all the other state public universities are below the mean and median-level scores of CGPA of the state.
According to NACC, there is only one university in the state which has received A++ grade, followed by five universities receiving A+ and 18 with A grade. Among the average-performing universities, two have received B++, one B+ and the remaining three B grade. The CGPA of these six universities range from 2.35 points to 2.88 points.
“These universities will have to step up their performance in infrastructure and learning resources, research, innovations and extension, institutional values and best practices and governance, leadership and management to catch up with other universities. Deemed universities, in general, show relatively better performance in terms of achieving higher grades A to A++,” said NACC. “Almost 83.3% of deemed universities in the state have received points between A to A++ as compared to 72% public universities. The state public universities clearly falls short in giving a matching response to the deemed universities, particularly in areas of infrastructure and learning resources, curriculum aspects and institutional values and best practices,” it stated.
Out of 64 universities, only 30 have gone for NAAC accreditation. However, two varsities--University of Mumbai and MGM Institute of Health Science, both based in Mumbai, whose accreditation period ended in 2017 and 2019 respectively--have not applied for re-accreditation by NAAC.
Similarly, there are eight universities whose validity of accreditation is up to September 2019, December 2019 and March 2020. They are yet to apply for re-accreditation.
As far as colleges are concerned, only 1,711 colleges of the 4,780 affiliated colleges and 2,392 standalone colleges have been accredited as on May 31, 2020. NAAC observed that the accredited colleges with a higher duration of participation in the accreditation process perform better than their counterparts. The accredited colleges, who entered in the early phases of accreditation, have given more attention to performance management and thereby have continued to perform better.
The accredited colleges affiliated to the Institution of Engineers, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Bharati Vidyapeeth (to be deemed) University and Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, Nashik, have received high scores in accreditation with average CGPAs ranging from 2.97 points to 3.16 points.
