Pedagogy of Learning, Vol. 6 (2) April 2020, 01-13 PEDAGOGY OF LEARNING (POL) International Refereed/ Peer Reviewed Journal of Education E-ISSN: 2395-7344, P-ISSN: 2320-9526 Abstracted and indexed in: Google Scholar, Research Bib, International Scientific Indexing (ISI), Scientific Indexing Services (SIS), WorldCat, Cite Factor, Impact Factor: 0.787(GIF) Website: http://pedagogyoflearning.com

Growth of Higher Education Institutions in with Special Reference to their Status of Accreditation

DOI: 10.46704/pol.2020.v06i02.001

Pritam Rajak * Research Scholar, Ph.D. in Educational Studies (Education), Ramakrishna Mission Sikshanamandira, Belur Math, Howrah, West Bengal, India. E-mail: [email protected]

Swami Tattwasarananda Professor, Ramakrishna Mission Sikshanamandira, Belur Math, Howrah, India.

*Corresponding Author: Pritam Rajak , E-mail: [email protected]

Article History: Received: 10 April 2020, Received in revised form: 25 April 2020 Accepted: 27 April 2020, Published online: 30 April 2020

ABSTRACT According to the National Policy on Education (1986), “Higher education provides people with an opportunity to reflect on the critical, social, economic, cultural, moral and spiritual issues facing humanity. It contributes to national development through dissemination of specialized knowledge and skills. It is therefore, a crucial factor for survival (NPE 1986, p.18). It is a type of tertiary education under theformal education system. In India, it has a tremendous growing sector, especially since independence. It recognised as India’s third-largest system of education after China and USA in terms of student enrolment. We all are aware of the fact of history of education, how Nalanda, Taxila, Vikramshila were being famous for their respective fields and specialization across the world. Although in British India, institutions for higher learning were increased at large, various issues and challenges were also emerged. The state of West Bengal has playing a pivotal role in the development of modern higher education system in the country. Therefore, in view of the above backdrop, the present study has focused on how the scenario of West Bengal has been changed in its shape in terms of number of higher education institutions for higher learning particularly from independence. Further, ithas also analysedaccreditation status of these institutions which evaluated by the NAAC for maintainingtheirstandards and quality education in contribution to the national development and society as well. Keywords: Growth of Higher Education, West Bengal, AISHE, NAAC

INTRODUCTION There is no widely accepted definition on Higher Education andit is too difficult to establish in a general sense. Educationists have defined it by their own perspectives.According to Agarwal (2009, p.6), “Higher education in India covers all post-secondary education beyond class twelve in different subject areas including all professional streams such as engineering and technology, medical, agriculture etc.”In India, as per the AISHE report (2010-2011), it is defined as “higher education is the education, which is obtained after completing 12 years of schooling or equivalent and is of the duration of at least nine months (full time) or after completing 10 years of schooling and is of the duration of at least 3 years”. Generally there are three types of education system in India viz. Primary, Secondary and Higher Education. Some time, higher education system called post-secondary or tertiary type of education or third type of education. It includes general education, professional education, vocational education, teacher training etc. Like the other arena, higher education also has a great history in its development in India. It is quite difficult to trace its development without studying its genesis. Its history has almost 2,600 years old. Taxila one of the oldest university which was established in 6th century BC. Further, In India had six other world class universities viz. Nalanda, Vallabhi, Vikramshila, Odantapuri, Jagadalala and Somapura which was established between the 10th and 12th Centuries AD (Basu, 2017, 49). However, the subjects taught in these institution werephilosophy, theology, law, medicine, liberal arts, fine arts etc. These institutions had taken the place across the globe for its specialization and skills. Scholars fromoutside of India were came to get knowledge and education. But; these were destroyed by the barbaric hordes who invaded India. At medieval period, universities for higher learning were also established in the principal cities (Hossain and Mondal, 2019). The modern education system was introduced by the British ruler and endeavoured with establishing three universities in 1857 at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras as per recommendation of Wood’s Despatch 1854. Though, before 1857, few colleges were foundby different agencies with different motives viz. Hindoo College (1817), (1818), Sanskrit College (1824), Bengal Engineering College (1856) etc.but later there is no clear-cut policy of education have been taken until 1854 (Sharma, 2002, p.3). However, some of them are nowconverted into full-fledge university which have been discussedlater in details. For the importance of education in independent India, Moulana Azad, as India’s first Education Minister, was said on a meeting of CABE in 1952 that “I consider that the planning of education on a national scale is perhaps even more important than national planning in economic and industrial development” (Basu, 2017, 48). On the other hand, the importance of universities for higher education stressed by our first prime minister of independence India, Late Jawaharlal Nehru said in a convocation at Allahabad University in 1947 as “A University stands for humanism, for tolerance, for reason, for the adventure of ideas and for the search for truth. It stands for the onward march of the human race towards higher objectives”. We always In post-independence India, the scenario of West Bengal has tremendously increased in terms of growth of higher education institutions. Beside public sector, private involvements have also been seen significantly. According to Sheikh, over 60 percent higher education institutions are prompted by the private sector in India (Sheikh, 2017, p.39).He also opined that‘India having enough number of institutes, international education rating agencies and have not placed many of these institutions within the best of the world ranking, also India has failed to produce world class universities’.However, at present many central as well as state government organisationsconducted surveyson higher education and submitreports periodically. For the purpose of this paper AISHEreports have been taken from 2010-2011 to 2018-2019 to analyse the present status of Higher .

GROWTH OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN INDIA

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The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) is playing a pivotal role in Indian education system. It was formed on September 26, 1985.Presently it has working with two departments; Department of School Education & Literacy and Department of Higher Education. Higher Education Department is the apex department under the MHRD for the overall development in the Country. All the statistical data which are related to education are published by MHRD. Primarily the data has been published in the Selected Educational Statistics (SES) up to 2005-06 and Statistics of Higher and Technical Education (SHTE) for the period 2006-07 to 2009-10 (Jana, 2017, p.24). Usually there is a time lag to publish the reports around 2-3 years. SES report 2004-05 has been published in 2007. However, to overcome these limitations, the MHRD has initiated the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) in 2010 to give a complete picture of higher education in the country. First time AISHE published its annual report 2010-11 in 2011. None of any reports was shows the complete picture of higher education in India. First time, govt. of India, took the step to compile all the aspects of higher education in India such as teacher, students enrolment, programmes, examination, finance, infrastructure etc. The data collection completely done through electronic mode and a dedicated portal http.//aishe.gov.inwith the help of National Informatics Centrewas developed for collection and compilation of the data.The survey is being conducted on annual basis. For this paper the data has been used from AISHE reports from 2010-11 to 2018-19. In these reports, for convenience, all higher education institutions have been classified into three broad categories such as Universities, Colleges and Stand-alone institutions. As per the report of AISHE, Universities which are empower to award degree under some Act of Parliament or state Legislature. Colleges which are not empower to provide degree in its own name and therefore affiliated/recognised with universities. Stand-Alone institutions are not affiliated with universities and not empowered to provide degree and therefore run Diploma level programmes. In the above backdrop, year wise growth of higher education institutions in India are presented in a table below and analyse how it gradually increased year by year. Table 1: Total No. of Higher Education Institutions in India from 2010-11 to 2018-19 Year No. of Universities No. of Colleges No. of Stand Alone Institutions 2010-2011 621 32974 11095 2011-2012 642 34852 11126 2012-2013 667 35525 11565 2013-2014 723 36634 11664 2014-2015 760 38498 12276 2015-2016 799 39071 11923 2016-2017 864 40026 11669 2017-2018 903 39050 10011 2018-2019 993 39931 10725 (Source: AISHE, MHRD) In the above table, all the nine reports of the AISHE have been taken to analyse quantitative growth of HIEs. During 2010-11, the number of universities were 621, colleges were 32974 and stand-alone institutions were 11095, where look into 2018-19 report, it holds 993 universities, 39931 colleges and 10725 stand-alone institutions. It is clearly observed that number of universities and colleges impressively increased. But when talking about stand-alone institution, it is significantly increased till the 2014 and after that it is now stand at 10725. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY This study also has several objectives which are stated below: 1. To study the gradual growth of universities and colleges in West Bengal.

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2. To list out the colleges affiliated under the various state universities under the Govt. of West Bengal. 3. To know the district wise growth of universities and colleges in West Bengal. 4. To list out the NAAC accredited status of universities and colleges in West Bengal. METHOD AND MATERIALS The present study is mainly based on the review of and analysis of various policies, documents, survey reports etc. as well as other related literatures and statistics related to higher education in India and West Bengal also. The Data has been collected from various reports of central as well as state government such as AISHE reports of various years, UGC’s various reports, NAAC reports etc., West Bengal Higher Education report etc. ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION In West Bengal: West Bengal, a constituent republic state of India, comprising with 23 districts, 40,782 inhabited villages spread over 341 blocks, and 62,183,113 populations (Census 2011). It came into existence when India was divided on the eve of independence in 1947. is the capital city of West Bengal. A brief overview of this state has been showing in below table: Table 2: West Bengal at a Glance General State West Bengal Headquarters Kolkata No. of Districts 23 Area in Sq Km (Census 2011) Area Total 83632.59 Rural 5119.41 Urban 88752 Population (Census 2011) Population 62,183,113 Rural 29093002 Urban 91276115 Male 31844945 Female 30338168 Density (Total person per sq km) 744 Constituencies Assembly 294 Loksabha 42 (Source: Website of the Districts of India (WB), As on 29.03.2020) In West Bengal, higher education has controlled under the Department of Higher Education and is placed under a Minister-in-Charge. Talking about its administrative setup, Department of Higher Education comprises of Education Directorate, Directorate of Technical Education and Directorate of State Archives. Further, six organizations are associated with the Department of Higher Education. These are West Bengal State Council of Higher Education, Universities, West Bengal College Service Commission, West Bengal District Gazetteers, Bankim Bhaban Gavesana Kendraand Joint Entrance Examination Board (WBHED, 2020). The West Bengal State Council of Higher Education was formed on July 29, 1994 under the West Bengal Act of 1994 as per recommendation of UGC in 1988 for planning and coordination in the state including co-operative with UGC. The council has started its function from April, 1995. The council was freshly reconstitutes under the West

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Bengal act 2015 under the leadership of Minister-in-Charge to take care of the new challenges and growth of Higher Education sector in the state. West Bengal is always been a better position in higher education. It is, where, one of the first university was established in 1857 namely The . Presently it has impressively increased in number of institution. There are four type of universities in West Bengal. These are Central, State, Deemed and State Private. Central universities are funded by the Central Govt. State universities are operated under the state government. Deemed universities are have to power to award their degreed and conducting their own administrative works, ant it comes under the Section 3 ofUGC act 1956. On the above backdrop, institution type wise universities in West Bengal are presented in the below table. Table 3: Universities in West Bengal Institution Type Total Number Central University 01 State Universities 27 Deemed Universities 02 State Private Universities 10 Total 40 (Source: UGC, Data as on 20.03.2020) At presently there are four types of institutions in India, viz. Central, State, Deemed and State-Private Universities. In these backdrop,the total number of universities in West Bengal have been presented in the above table. There is only one central university, namely Visva-Bharati University, situated at Shantiniketan (). While 27 under the state legislature universities, among them two UGC recommended deemed universities and 10 are privately managed state universities. Table 4: Type Wise Affiliated Colleges under various State Universities Sl. Name of the District Govt./ Private Other Total No. No. University Aided (Self- Institute of Financed) Colleges 1. Cooch Behar Cooch Behar 15 1 2 18 Panchanan Barma University North 24 parganas 1 0 0 1 University of Kolkata 0 1 0 1 2. Kalyani Nadia 22 2 4 28 Murshidabad 26 5 2 33 West Bengal State North 24 parganas 26 1 0 27 3. University Kolkata 21 7 0 28 Malda 11 0 0 11 University of 4. Uttar Dinajpur 5 0 0 5 GourBanga DakshinDinajpur 7 0 0 7 Darjeeling 30 0 0 30 Jalpaiguri 16 0 0 16 University of North 5. Cooch Behar 4 0 0 4 Bengal Alipurduar 12 0 0 12 Uttar Dinajpur 2 0 0 2 KaziNazrul PaschimBardhaman 13 0 7 20 6. University ______Pedagogy of Learning, Vol. 6 (2), April 2020 © POL & the Authors, E-ISSN: 2395-7344, P-ISSN: 2320-9526 Web: http://pedagogyoflearning.com 5

Kolkata 74 4 0 78 University of South 24 Parganas 45 5 0 50 7. Calcutta Howrah 21 3 0 24 Hooghly 8 0 0 8 Hooghly 24 33 0 57 University of PurbaBardhaman 25 54 0 79 9. Burdwan Bankura 0 34 0 34 Birbhum 16 52 0 68 PaschimMedinipur 34 1 2 37 PurbaMedinipur 22 0 0 22 Vidyasagar 10 Jhargram 1 0 0 1 University Kolkata 2 0 2 4 PaschimBarddhaman 0 0 1 1 11. Uttar Dinajpur 1 0 2 3 12. Bankura 24 0 1 25 13. Kolkata 0 0 2 2 14. RabindraBharati Kolkata 1 0 0 1 University 15. - 0 0 0 0 16. Presidency - 0 0 0 0 University 17. Sidho-Kanho- Purulia 21 0 1 22 Birsha University 18. Diamond Harbour - 0 0 0 0 Women’s University 20. Sanskrit College - 0 0 0 0 and Universities (Source: Dept. of Higher Education & University Websites(As on 27.03.2020) Under the following State universities (Table No. 4),Burdwan University and Calcutta University having the highest number of affiliated colleges (including teacher training as well as professional college) as it is one of the oldest among the state universities. Many of them are located at Kolkata. In the view of private self-financed colleges have also seen the highest number under the said universities. Aliah University, Presidency University, Diamond Harbour Women’s University and The Sanskrit College & University having no such of affiliated colleges under these universities. Two institutes viz. J.D. Birla Institute and Institute of Business Management having affiliation of Jadavpur University. The district wise list of universities with their year of establishment has been presented in the below table: Table 5: No. of Colleges in various Districts of West Bengal District No. of Colleges Darjeeling 30 Alipurduar 12 Hooghly 65 Bankura 59 Howrah 24 Birbhum 68 Jalpaiguri 16 Cooch Behar 22 Jhargram 1 Dakshin Dinajpur 7 Kolkata 114 ______Pedagogy of Learning, Vol. 6 (2), April 2020 © POL & the Authors, E-ISSN: 2395-7344, P-ISSN: 2320-9526 Web: http://pedagogyoflearning.com 6

Malda 11 PurbaBarddhaman 79 Murshidabad 33 PurbaMedinipur 22 Nadia 28 Purulia 22 North 24 Parganas 28 South 24 Parganas 50 PaschimBarddhaman 21 Uttar Dinajpur 10 PaschimMedinipur 37 (Source: Various Universities official websites) To participate in the higher education system it must be noted that there is a need to establish sufficient institution in the different areas so that students from remote areas, can easily get access to higher education.From the table, among the 23 districts of West Bengal, utmostcolleges are located at Kolkata. Few colleges having in thekalimpong district which mostly are affiliated by the University of North Bengal. Comparatively Jhargram district having only one college, which is very less number from the rest of the districts. Table 6: Year of Establishment wise growth of Universities in West Bengal Year of Establishment University District Central University 1921 Visva-Bharati University Birbhum State Government Aided Universities Presidency University 1817 (Upgraded to (Formerly Hindoo College and Presidency Kolkata University Status in 2010) College) 1824 (Upgraded to The Sanskrit College and University University in 2016, under (Laying foundation stone of Sanskrit College in Kolkata the Sanskrit College and 1824) University Act, 2015) 1856 (as a Govt. College, Status in 1992, converted into full- The Bengal Engineering & Science University Howrah fledged University Status in 2004) 1857 Calcutta University Kolkata 1948 (Upgraded to Raiganj University Uttar Dinajpur University 2015) 1955 Jadavpur University Kolkata PurbaBarddhama 1960 Burdwan University n 1960 Kalyani University Nadia 1962 RabindraBharati University Kolkata 1962 University of North Bengal Darjeeling 1974 Bidhan Chandra KrishiVishwavidyalaya Nadia Paschim 1981 Midnapore West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery 1995 Kolkata Sciences (Formerly Veterinary College, 1893) 1997 NetajiSubhas Open University Kolkata 2000 (Under the WBNUJS The West Bengal National University of Kolkata Act, 1999) Juridical Science MaulanaAbulKalam Azad University of 2001 Technology (Formerly West Bengal University Kolkata of Technology) 2001 Uttar BangaKrishiVishwavidyalaya Cooch Behar ______Pedagogy of Learning, Vol. 6 (2), April 2020 © POL & the Authors, E-ISSN: 2395-7344, P-ISSN: 2320-9526 Web: http://pedagogyoflearning.com 7

2003 The West Bengal University of Health Sciences Kolkata 2008 (Under the Aliah Aliah University (Formerly Mohammedan Kolkata University Act, 2007) College of Calcutta or Calcutta Madrasah) 2008 University of GourBanga Malda

2008 West Bengal Kolkata 2010 (Under the SKB Sidho-Kanho-Birsha University Purulia University Act, 2010) 2012 Cooch Behar PanchananBarma University Cooch Behar Paschim 2012 KaziNazrul University Barddhaman 2013 Bankura University Bankura

2013 Diamond Harbour Women’s University Kolkata

West Bengal University of Teachers’ Training, 2015 Kolkata Education Planning and Administration

Deemed to be University under the section 3 of UGC act 1956 1876 (In 2018 the MHRD Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science Kolkata given Deemed to be status.) Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Educational and Research Institute 2005 Howrah (Formerly Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University) State Private Universities 2015 (under the Amity Amity University Kolkata University Act, 2014) 2014 (Under JIS University JIS University Kolkata Act, 2014) 2012 (Under the WB State Kolkata Legislature Act, 2012) 2014 (Under the Adamas Kolkata University Act, 2014) 2014 (Under the Seacom Birbhum Skills University Act, 2014) 2014 (Under the University of Engineering and University of Engineering and Management Kolkata Management Act, 2014) 2016 (Under the Brainware Kolkata University Act 2015) 2015 (Under the WB State The Kolkata Govt. Act, 2014) 2017 (Under the Sister Nivedita University Act. Sister Nivedita University Kolkata 2017) 2017 (Under the St. Xavier’s University, Kolkata Act. St. Xavier’s University Kolkata 2016) ______Pedagogy of Learning, Vol. 6 (2), April 2020 © POL & the Authors, E-ISSN: 2395-7344, P-ISSN: 2320-9526 Web: http://pedagogyoflearning.com 8

Source: UGC, Universities Official Websites (Data as on 20.03.2020) After the establishment of University of Calcutta in 1857, there are 40 universities, among them one is operated through central government, 27 are under the state government of West Bengal, two are Deemed Universities and 10 are privately managed university. Few universities have been upgraded from colleges by an act under the state government. Calcutta Madrasah or Aliah Madrasah or Calcutta Mohamedan College which was established by the British Governor-General Warren Hastings in 1780 at the request of some Muslim gentlemen, have been upgraded to a state university, namely Aliah University in 2008, under the Aliah University act, 2007. Another college, ‘Sanskrit College’ which was established in 1824 under the recommendation of HT James Prinsep and Thomas Babington Macaulay. The purpose of establishment of this college is to impart knowledge of ancient literature, Philosophy, Hindu Law, Grammar, Indian Culture and to promote the learning of Sanskrit among the British officials as well as Indians. Later, it also been converted into university in 2016. The first college of civil engineering was established in 1856 as India’s 3rd Engineering College at Shibpur, Howrah as named ‘Bengal Engineering College’. It is the first college to become an Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (University Status) in India in 2014. Earlier, it opened its first class on Civil Engineering at Hindu College, Calcutta, in the year 1843-44 as per recommendation of Council of Education, Bengal. Later it started by the name of “Civil Engineering College” on 24th November, 1856, in the premises of the Writers Building, Calcutta. Through the continuous progression with introducing new courses and merged with the Presidency College (Now University), Calcutta from 1865 to 1869, the college was elevated to the status of ‘Deemed University’ in 1992 by the MHRD, Govt. of India. In 2004, B.E. College was converted into full-fledge university by an act of West Bengal and renamed as ‘Bengal Engineering and Science University’, again in 2014, the government of India declared into an Institute of National Importance and renamed Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur. Further, Veterinary College, 1893 converted into West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences in 1995, Raiganj College, 1948 into Raiganj University in 2015, The Hindoo College, 1817 transformed into Presidency College in 1855 and it converted as University in 2010. As per above table, among the state universities, 21 universities are newly established at various districts of West Bengal. Among them one is state open-university named ‘NetajiSubhas Open University’ and another is for teacher training ‘West Bengal University of Teacher Training, Education and Planning’. Out of state universities (Govt.), 15 are located in Kolkata district, 2 universities each in Howrah, Cooch Behar and Nadia district, and one each in Malda, Purulia, Paschim Midnapore, Uttar Dinajpur, Purba Barddhaman, Paschim Barddhaman and Darjeeling district respectively. On the other hand, if talking about private partnership, it also significantly influenced at West Bengal for Higher Education. Presently 10 private universities are in West Bengal and these all are established after independence by introducing Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization (LPG) policy in India. Among them, 9 universities are located at Kolkata district and rest is at Birbhum namely Seacom Skills University. Growth of Colleges in West Bengal: Bengal has witnessed the root of higher education in modern education system in India. A timeline of Colleges in Bengal were prepared be the Department of Higher Education, Government of West Bengal. Table 7: Some Remarkable Colleges in Bengal Year Colleges 1817 Hindu College 1824 Sanskrit College established during the Governor-Generalship of Lord Amherst

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1846 Krishnanagar Government College established in Nadia Dist.

1853 Krishna Nath College, Murshidabad 1854 School of Industrial Art (Later converted into Government school of Art in 1864) 1856 Bengal Engineering College 1860 St. Xavier’s College 1862 Chandannagore College 1879 Bethun College for Women 1912 Loreto College, an all-Women’s College 1921 Visva-Bharati University 1939 Lady Braboune College 1955 National Council of Education, Bengal becomes Jadavpur University Source: West Bengal Higher Education Report-2016 Some remarkable colleges of modern higher learning in Bengal have been seen in the above table. These institutions were established to some motives, like Hindoo College was established to spread the English language, Serampore college was established in 1818 to impart training to the Indian Christians. The first Institution was established after the partition of Bengal in 1955 named Jadavpur University. According to Agarwal, at the time of independence in 1947, there were several hundred affiliated colleges in India. It has increased from 700 in 1950 to 18,064 in 2006.Similarly this expansion of colleges have reflecting in West Bengal also. The year wise growth of colleges in India and West Bengal are presented below. Table 8: Growth of Number of Colleges in India and West Bengal Year In India In West Bengal 2010-2011 32974 857 2011-2012 34852 901 2012-2013 35525 955 2013-2014 36634 985 2014-2015 38498 1051 2015-2016 39071 1082 2016-2017 40026 1208 2017-2018 39050 1341 2018-2019 39931 1371 Source:AISHE (Various Years) As per the table, among the 39931 colleges, 1371 are in West Bengal including teacher training college. The mostly growth is found in the year between 2017 and 2018. It may be due to private involvement in the higher education sector. Further it continuously increases in every year which have been revealed in the annual reports. ACCREDITATION STATUS OF HEIS The development of any country depends on the quality of education. Higher education provides a platform the intellects to getting world class education with enhancing their skills and knowledge. However, assessment is an important process of education for measuring quality in education setting. In India, for higher education, many accreditation bodies are given grades such as NBA for technical institutions, AB for agricultural education etc. However, National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) is an autonomous institution of University Grants Commission (UGC), was established in 1994 as recommendation of National Policy on Education 1986. It isresponsible for all higher education institutions in the country towards the quality assurance. ______Pedagogy of Learning, Vol. 6 (2), April 2020 © POL & the Authors, E-ISSN: 2395-7344, P-ISSN: 2320-9526 Web: http://pedagogyoflearning.com 10

Generally NAAC gives the status on the basis of CGPA score among the seven pre-determined grades viz. A++,A+,B++, B+, C and D. Grade wise NAAC accreditation status of Universities and Colleges in India and West Bengal are presented in a table. Table 9: NAAC Accredited Colleges and Universities in India Grade Colleges Universities Transition Autonomous Colleges A++ 16 08 00 A+ 140 25 2 A 1132 149 98 B++ 531 23 02 B+ 713 23 00 B 2267 77 21 C 523 12 00 D 00 00 00 Total 5322 317 123 Source:NAAC,Data as on 08.02.2020 Out of 5322 NAAC assessed colleges, only 16 colleges have been awarded ‘A++’. While 1132 colleges with ‘A’ grade and 2267 are ‘B’ grade which is the highest in number. At looking into the NAAC assessed universities it is only 8 universities out of 317 which have been awarded ‘A++’. On the other, among the 317 colleges, ‘A’ graded no. of universities is the highest. Out of 123 NAAC assessed transition autonomous colleges, 98 are with ‘A’ grade and 21 are ‘B’ grade. Table 10: RAF- Grade Declared institutions in India (1st July 2017 to 28th March 2020) College 1485 University 74 Total 1559 Source: NAAC Website The Revised Accreditation Framework (RAF) was launched in 2017 with emphasis on the ICT enabled, objective, transparent, scalable and robust assessment.As per its declaration, the total number of higher education institutions in India are 1559. Among them 74 are universities and 1485 are colleges. Table 11: Grade wise HIEs in India as per RAF-Grade declared institutions (1st July 2017 to 28th March 2020) Grade No. of Institutions Percentage A++ 14 0.9 A+ 69 4.4 A 136 8.7 B++ 227 14.6 B+ 280 18 B 517 33.2 C 292 18.7 D 24 1.5 Total 1559 Source: NAAC Website

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Only fourteen institutions are accredited with A++, while B grade institutions with RAF grade is high with 517 colleges. In viewing on the state of West Bengal, it has also seen a number of accredited colleges and universities. The NAAC grade wise number of colleges, Universities and transition autonomous colleges have been presented in the below table. Table 12: NAAC Accredited Institutions in West Bengal Grade Colleges Universities Transition Autonomous Colleges A++ 01 01 00 A+ 01 00 00 A 41 07 02 B++ 38 01 00 B+ 66 01 00 B 128 02 02 C 28 00 00 D 00 00 00 Total 303 12 04 Source:NAAC, Data as on 08.02.2020 NAAC Grade wise accreditation status of colleges, universities and transition autonomous colleges in West Bengal has been presented in the above table. Out of 303 colleges, only two colleges have been awarded with ‘A++’ and ‘A+’ namely St. Xavier’s College and Midnapore College, while B grade is the highest number colleges in West Bengal with 128. In view of the Universities status, among the 12 NAAC assessed universities, only one university have been awarded with ‘A++’ namely Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Education and Research Institute (Deemed University) and 7 are with ‘A’ grade. Again in NAAC assessed transition autonomous colleges, out of four, two colleges are ‘A’ and rest two are ‘B’ grade. CONCLUSION It is revealed from the entire analysis that the state of West Bengalhas playing a crucial part of the development of higher education in India. It expanded with the number of establishment of new HIEs in the recent years. There is only one university which operated through central Govt. and need more such type of universities in the state especially in the remote areas. Only a few numbers of colleges are applying for accreditation, it may be due to poor infrastructure facilities and teaching equipment. They need to bemore emphasised on these aspects by orientatingwith latest skills to provide quality education to their learners and participating in the contribution to the national development. If seeing in the NAAC graded to colleges, A++ grade institutions, among the universities and colleges, there is only one university securing the A++ status namely Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Educational and Research Institute at Belur and among the colleges, St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata. B- Grade institutions holds the highest number in West Bengal with 128 while universities are two. Through the enough development, these institutions are unable to participate in the global ranking university (Sheikh, 2017, p.39) not even in the national average in terms of many performance indicators (Jana, 2017, p. 52). While seeing the private involvement in this sector, at the same time the question has been raised about equal opportunity in terms of participation. Hence, there is an urgent need to reform all the higher education institutions by enhancing the manpower and teaching learning facilities so that the learners can access the facilities and acquiring quality education and to become in the participation of national development.

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To cite this article: Rajak, P. and Swami, T. (2020). Growth of higher education institutions in West Bengal with special reference to their status of accreditation. Pedagogy of Learning, 6 (2). Available at: http://pedagogyoflearning.com. ______Pedagogy of Learning, Vol. 6 (2), April 2020 © POL & the Authors, E-ISSN: 2395-7344, P-ISSN: 2320-9526 Web: http://pedagogyoflearning.com 13

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