India has one of the largest and diverse education systems, in the world. Privatization,
widespread expansion, increased autonomy and introduction of programs in new and
emerging areas has improved access to higher education. At the same time it also
led to widespread concern on the quality and relevance of the higher education.
To address these concerns, the National Policy on Education (NPE, 1986) and the
Programme of Action (PoA, 1992) that spelt out strategic plans for the policies,
advocated the establishment of an independent National accreditation agency.
Consequently, the NATIONAL ASSESSMENT AND ACCREDITATION COUNCIL (NAAC) was established
in 1994 as an autonomous institution of the University Grants Commission (UGC).
The mandate of NAAC as reflected in its vision statement is in making quality assurance
an integral part of the functioning of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs).