Come Nov 15, NAAC accreditation will cost more

Kochi, November 10 , 2013 : The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) has announced a steep increase in the fee structure for colleges to obtain accreditation. The revised fees will come into effect from November 15, 2013.

The Executive Committee of NAAC approved the revised fee structure at its 65th meeting held on October 25. As per the revised fee structure, the registration fee for Letter of Intent (LOI) and Institutional Eligibility for Quality Assessment (IEQA) has been fixed at Rs 25,000. Earlier, affiliated and constituent colleges seeking assessment and accreditation for the first-time had to pay just Rs 2,247.

For universities and professional institutions with up to 10 departments, the fee has been hiked to Rs 3 lakh. For institutions with more than 10 departments, the revised fee is Rs 6 lakh. Before revision, it was just Rs 1 lakh up to four departments and Rs 15,000 for each additional department up to ten departments. For accreditation of more than ten departments, the fee was Rs 1.9 lakh and Rs 10,000 for each additional department.

While the accreditation fee was limited to a maximum of Rs 5 lakh per institution, the cap has now been increased to Rs 6 lakh.

General colleges with multi faculties, including arts, commerce and science have to pay Rs 1,50,000 while general colleges with mono faculty, including Arts / Commerce / Science/or any other and Teacher Education/Physical Education have to pay Rs 1,00,000. Earlier it was Rs 84, 270 and Rs 56, 180 respectively.

However, if LOIs are submitted online on or before November 14, institutions need to pay only the existing IEQA fee. Also, institutions that have cleared Institutional Eligibility for Quality Assessment (IEQA) before November 14 can remit assessment and accreditation fees based on the existing fee structure.

Institutions whose LOI have been accepted and do not need to undergo the IEQA process also can remit assessment and accreditation fees based on the existing fee structure.

The fee hike will be significant in the wake of University Grants Commission (UGC)'s Mandatory Assessment and Accreditation of Higher Educational Institutions Regulations, which makes it mandatory for institutions to get accreditation within six years of its opening or after two batches pass out.