Quality Assurance and Private Higher Education in India

Abstract

The opening up of Indian economy in the 1990s led to the establishment of many educational institutions in the private sector. Quality is the prime responsibility of all higher education institutions. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)’s definition of quality assurance is as follows: An all-embracing term referring to an ongoing, continuous process of evaluating (assessing, monitoring, guaranteeing, maintaining, and improving) the quality of a higher education system, its institutions, and programmes. As a regulatory mechanism, quality assurance focuses on both accountability and improvement, providing information and judgements (not ranking) through an agreed upon and consistent process and well-established criteria. Many systems make a distinction between internal quality assurance (i.e., intra-institutional practices to monitor and improve the quality of higher education) and external quality assurance (i.e., supra-institutional schemes that ensure the quality of higher education institutions and programmes). Quality assurance activities depend on the existence of an institutional mechanism sustained by a solid quality culture. Quality management, quality enhancement, quality control, and quality assessment are means through which quality assurance is ensured. The scope of quality assurance is determined by the shape and size of the higher education institution. Quality assurance differs from accreditation in the sense that the former is a prerequisite for the latter. In practice, the relationship between the two varies a great deal from one country to another. Both talk of consequences such as the capacity to provide educational services, the capacity to award officially recognised degrees, and the right to be funded by the state. Quality assurance is often considered a part of the quality management of higher education. But sometimes the two terms are used synonymously). It has been pointed out that external quality assurance focuses on standards of monitoring and refers to enhancement as well as maintenance of quality. Quality assurance is the planned and systematic review process of an institution or programmes to determine that acceptable standards of education, scholarship, and infrastructure are being maintained and enhanced. It usually includes expectations that the quality control mechanism is in place and is effective. It also refers to the means through which an institution confirms that its students would be able to achieve the standards set by the institution or any other degree-awarding body. The University Grants Commission (UGC) established the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) in 1994, and the prime agenda of NAAC is to assess and accredit institutions of higher learning throughout the country with the objective of helping them to work continuously to improve their quality of education. Assessment is the performance evaluation of an institution and/or its units and is accomplished through a process based on self-study and peer review using clearly defined criteria. The seven criteria of NAAC would include Curricular Aspects; Teaching-Learning and Evaluation; Research, Innovation, and Extension; Infrastructure and Learning Resources; Student Support and Progression; Governance, Leadership and Management; and Institutional Values and Best Practices. In India, there were only 27 universities in 1950–1951 but now there are 993 universities. At present, there are 385 private universities which are spread across the country. The NAAC has accredited more than 25 private universities so far. Currently, there are 39,931 colleges. Of these, 77.8 per cent colleges are privately managed; 64.3 per cent are private-unaided; and 13.5 per cent are private-aided. Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh have about 88 per cent private-unaided colleges and Tamil Nadu has 87 per cent private-unaided colleges while Assam has only 16.0 per cent private-unaided colleges (AISHE 2019). Private universities and colleges are helping the government and the private service sector by promoting human resources with requisite knowledge and skills that make them employable. The private sector has bourgeoned over the years, and many universities with good research and administrative support have been set up. An innovation ecosystem has been created with start-ups and incubation centres. These have been created with the help of faculty and students and have come up very well. This study discusses some crucial issues and challenges that have emerged during the process of assessment and accreditation of institutions, especially private ones.