Nagpur: Maharashtra’s permanently unaided colleges should accord top priority to National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) accreditation and actively implement key components of the National Education Policy, including APAAR IDs, Academic Bank of Credits IDs and student internships, minister Chandrakant Patil said on Tuesday.Speaking after chairing a meeting with representatives of Maharashtra State Unaided Colleges Association at Mantralaya in Mumbai, Patil said quality assessment was essential to improve academic standards and expand opportunities for students at national level.The meeting, attended by Public Health minister Prakash Abitkar, reviewed issues concerning self-financed colleges across the state.Officials informed that Maharashtra has 3,829 colleges, including 2,598 unaided and 1,231 aided institutions. Discussions focused on shortage of PhD, NET and SET-qualified teachers in rural colleges, annual university affiliation fees, delays in scholarship disbursal and the resulting financial burden on institutions.Patil said the issues would be taken up at a meeting of VCs and Pro-VCs of state public universities scheduled at the Maharashtra State Faculty Development Academy, Pune, to facilitate policy decisions.The meeting was attended by additional chief secretary B Venugopal Reddy, director of higher education Dr Shailendra Deolankar, Shivaji University vice-chancellor Dr Rajanish Kamat and other senior officials.
