What is the NBA Accreditation and Why Does It Matter?

For any higher education institution, getting “Accreditation” from reputed accreditation organizations such as NBA or NAAC can create a great impact in terms of quality of education & institutional practices.

Moreover, the New Education Policy (NEP 2020) has also made it compulsory to get the best grade in accreditation to attain the “Autonomous Status”.

Accreditation certificate acts as an educational quality assurance factor for students whereas, for an institution, it opens the door to various opportunities like getting autonomous status, funds & grants from the government to improve the operational processes of the institution. However, every accreditation process has some guidelines that need to be followed for ensuring the best educational practices.

In this blog, let us understand what NBA accreditation is and why it matters…

What is NBA Accreditation?

“NBA” stands for the National Board of Accreditation which is an accreditation agency representing India in the Washington Accord (WA). The Washington Accord is an agreement between bodies that accredit or recognize higher-level engineering qualifications.

NBA is one such autonomous accrediting body in India, which deals with the accreditation of engineering and various technical institutions based on the quality of education being offered. The guidelines outlined by the NBA act as parameters to certify institutions.

Any higher education institution (HEI) willing to apply and successfully get accredited from the NBA needs to ensure that all guidelines are followed strictly and every document or information that needs to be submitted is free from any errors and is 100% authentic.

Major Objectives of NBA Accreditation

As with any organization, the NBA also has some objectives. The generalized and broad objectives of the NBA are as follows-

• Evaluation: Regular evaluation of institutions or programs providing technical training on the basis of norms, standards, and guidelines.
• Upgraded System: Development of quality-conscious systems which are relevant to the latest market needs, excellent, and include participation by all the stakeholders.
• High Standard Education System: Building an education system that matches the aim of growth through competence and contributes to the national economy through societal development.
• Quality: Providing quality benchmarks targeted at the national and global level human capital in every technical education field.

An institution has to undergo certain procedures to get accredited and fulfill some conditions laid out by the NBA. After a visit by authorities from the NBA based on their assessment, the institution may get accredited.

What are the Benefits of NBA Accreditation?

The following list depicts the key benefits of NBA accreditation for HEIs & students.

• Enhances Teaching-Learning

The NBA process enables the institutions to identify and overcome the teaching-learning gaps and develop strategies that maximize the student learning outcomes. It urges the institutions to initiate quality improvement programs, activities, etc. by motivating the faculty to participate actively in academic activities.

• Academic Progress of Students

Institutions can adapt the outcome based educational approach (OBE) to map and measure student progress at every step of their journey.

• Students’ Skill Development

The focus of the NBA is to help students develop skills along with regular academics. It may enhance student enrollment quality-wise and quantity-wise along with improving the employability of the graduate students in the long run.

• College Autonomy

The institutions that successfully get accredited from the NBA can apply and attain autonomous status. Thus, they can work independently without the need of any university.

• Grants & Funds for Institutions

Autonomous institutions can apply for grants and funds that promote the financial health of the institution to further boost their work processes and benefit students.

• Socio-Economic Development with Technical Manpower

Facilitates mobility of professionals and students as well as transnational recognition of degrees. Promotes a competitive academic environment where students grow and foster socio-economic development at the national level by producing the best quality technical manpower.

Who Can Apply for the NBA Accreditation?

Higher education institutions that fall under the given categories are eligible for the NBA accreditation.

Step-by-Step NBA Accreditation Process

NBA accreditation process is outlined step-by-step as follows.

Step #1: Online Registration

The First & foremost step for an HEI to proceed for NBA accreditation is to get registered by filing a form & paying registration fees. They need to submit their institution’s basic details with a registered email Id on the “eNBA” portal.

Step #2: Details Submission

A permanent user Id along with password credentials is generated on paying the nominal registration fees (nearly 10% of the total registration fees). Utilizing the permanent Id, institutions need to submit more details such as the name of the head of the institution, information regarding the key promoters, institution’s bank details, proposed programs along with soft copies of all AICTE Approval Letters (year-wise letters of past 5 years) or any suitable regulatory authority.

Step #3: SAR Report Generation

Once it’s done, the institution is required to prepare a self-assessment report (SAR). This can be done by self-evaluation of internal work processes & activities. This step serves as a chance for the institute to apply corrective measures and improves the way it functions. HEIs need to submit them online along with paying the remaining 90% of the registration fees & the procedure is termed as “e-SAR” submission.

Step #4: NBA Peer Team Visit

On successful submission & acceptance of the e-SAR, the NBA members invite qualified institutions to suggest & decide final dates for their personal visit to their campus. On a predefined day, the evaluators visit the campus and assess every key detail as per the SAR.

Step #5: Analysis & Evaluation by Committee Members

Furthermore, they make observations and analyses based on their guidelines. This is one of the most important phases of the accreditation process. The reports must be accurate in terms of data & include the information covering the following areas in a higher education institution.

NBA accreditation will depend on how well the institution has performed in terms of education outcomes, faculty performance, and overall facilities being provided to enhance students’ growth. Even though the main objective of the NBA is to ensure quality standards in many aspects, the impact of accreditation goes far beyond this.

Institutions facing challenges in managing the documents, information, and compliance reports required for the NBA accreditation process can opt for college ERP software integrated with an Accreditation Data Management System. It can help HEIs to–

• Migrate, Compile & Store Legacy Data at Centralized Platform
• Manage Data Chronologically
• Generate SSR reports
• Keep Tab on Administrative & Non-Administrative Operations

Thus, with college ERP software, institutions can save resources, time and maintain all the necessary data secure without any probability of errors.