NAAC will crack the whip on fake claimants

The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) has warned institutions of stringent action if they misuse the Council’s name to attract students.

This announcement came after a Bangalore-based educational group recently claimed in a press conference that all its institutions were accredited by NAAC, whereas, in reality, only one institution had the tag.

“We were shocked to see in news reports that the group had claimed that all its institutions were NAAC accredited, because only one degree college has that status. Also, we have observed that some education groups have been making false claims of  grading status to all their institutions,” said an NAAC official.

NAAC has also been receiving complaints from the public about some other institutions that are making false claims of being accredited by the Council. “We learnt that some institutions are misleading students and the public by providing false information in their advertisements about their accreditation status,” said Dr HA Ranganath, director, NAAC.

However, NAAC has not yet decided on the nature of action it is likely to take against such institutions. “We first need to identify the nature of the mistake and discuss this with the executive committee to decide on the appropriate measures that need to be taken,” Ranganath said.

Officials said it is possible that the Council might refuse the re-accreditation of an accredited institute belonging to an educational group, if the group is found to have made such false claims of accreditation.