Bhubaneswar: Academic audit of public universities and autonomous colleges in Odisha will begin in July and 22 auditors, who are academic experts, have been roped in for this purpose.
“This will help the institutions to apply for National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) grades and National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranking,” Higher Education Minister Arun Sahoo informed during a workshop on ‘NAAC accreditation, NIRF ranking, autonomous status, academic audit’ organised by the department at Rama Devi Women’s University here on Wednesday.
He stressed the need for radical changes in the higher education system to make it student-centric. “Although there have been many positive changes in the higher education sector, much more needs to be done,” he added.
Higher Education Secretary Saswat Mishra appealed to authorities of all universities and 32 autonomous colleges to make the higher education system teaching-learning centric. “Higher educational institutions should transform keeping pace with time and changes to remain relevant,” he said.
The Odisha State Higher Education Council (OSHEC) had informed about having started an ‘academic audit’ of 12 state public universities and 32 autonomous colleges in a phased manner to assess the quality of education and know the strength and weaknesses.
In the first phase, academic audit of Rama Devi Women’s University, Bhubaneswar, BJB Autonomous College, Bhubaneswar and Prananath (Autonomous) College, Khurda, were conducted and the process was expected to end by the end of this year.