NAAC launches AI-based accreditation system to revolutionize higher education in India

The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) will launch an unprecedented AI-based accreditation system in August, doing away with old-fashioned physical checks in favor of digital authentication and machine learning-based evaluation. The move is intended to simplify the accreditation process, improve transparency, and reach a coverage of more than 90% of higher education institutions (HEIs) in India within the next five years.

NAAC Chairman Prof. Anil Sahasrabudhe made the announcement that the new mechanism will do away with peer team visits, which used to result in delays and issues of integrity. The mechanism will instead be based on verified documents, AI-based data analysis, and crowdsourced stakeholder input.

The reforms draw from proposals by a committee headed by former ISRO chief K. Radhakrishnan, established in November 2022 to overhaul India's accreditation system. At present, a paltry 40% of Indian universities and 18% of colleges are NAAC-accredited. The new framework aims to fill this vacuum while maintaining credibility.

Two-Tier Accreditation: Basic & Maturity-Based Graded Levels

The overhauled framework consists of two major features:

Basic Accreditation – Institutions would either be graded as "Accredited" or "Not Accredited" on the basis of performance on 55 parameters for universities, 50 for autonomous colleges, and 40 for affiliated colleges. Minimum pass scores of 50% for universities, 45% for autonomous colleges, and 40% for affiliated colleges are prescribed.

Maturity-Based Graded Accreditation (Levels 1 to 5) – Institutions can choose higher levels after obtaining basic accreditation, where the parameters become more complex. Currently accredited institutions (with A, A+, or A++ grades) can directly apply for maturity-based levels.

Note: Physical visits will be done only from Level 3 and above, in hybrid (online + on-site) mode to reduce risks of manipulation.

AI & Stakeholder Verification Ensure Transparency

One such significant innovation is the AI-driven credibility rating system:

Institutions provide documents, and AI cross-verification is done using machine learning.

A randomly chosen panel of 100+ stakeholders (faculty members, industry professionals, retired venture capitalists, NGOs) authenticates.

Every institution begins with a default credibility rating of 0.5, which goes up on validation or comes down in case of inconsistency.

Institutions providing forged documents are banned for accreditation for three years.

Foreign institutions that set up campuses here will also be made eligible for NAAC accreditation under this new system. The new system should be operational from August.