The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) awarded an A grade to Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. “It was perhaps one of the most complex accreditation exercises undertaken by NAAC,” said Prashant R. Nair, Vice Chair of Department of IT, who was appointed as a the institution-wide coordinator. “Over a hundred people in the institution were directly involved with the accreditation exercise, serving as campus-level, school-level and department-level coordinators.”
A large team was deputed from the national accreditation body in Bangalore to visit all 15 schools on our 5 campuses located in 3 different states, during the first week of November. An educational institution has to be at least five years old before becoming eligible to apply for NAAC accreditation. Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham just completed six years this January. NAAC is a fourteen-year old autonomous body for accreditation of Indian colleges and universities; it was established by the UGC in 1994. A is the highest grade it awards to the best-in-class institutions for higher learning.
“We are today, perhaps, the only institution in the country with five campuses,” stated the Pro-Chancellor, Br. Abhayamrita Chaitanya, in a letter to the entire Amrita fraternity including students, faculty, and staff. “The NAAC team was appreciative of the fact that in spite of the multiple campuses, multiple schools, multiple disciplines, we are a very cohesive, vibrant, dedicated and well managed unit. Almost every school in at Amrita is less than ten years old,” he added.
Congratulatory messages poured in from all schools and campuses. “I am proud to state that we are the only institution in Kerala to have received an A grade accreditation by NAAC,” said Dr. Prem Nair, Medical Director at the Kochi healthcare campus. “Ours is a remarkable achievement, given that Amrita is one of the youngest universities ever to be awarded an A grade accreditation, within a short time since its inception,” added Br. Sudeep, Director, Amritapuri Campus.
The grade is valid for the next five years. In 2014, the NAAC team will be on our campuses again to assess our strengths and weaknesses. Dr. Balakrishnan Shankar, Associate Dean, Amritapuri Campus, eloquently charted out the path ahead. “Let us not rest on our laurels. We should keep up the good work, continue to improve further on all fronts, especially research and publications. The coming years should see us come up to ever new heights, and we should not stop until we have become a world class institution.”
January 30, 2009
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore
