Sunday, 07 March, 2010
Mumbai: For all those planning to join top-ranked institutions, here is a word of caution: Do not go by the publicised rating of the college or the university. TOI’s investigations have revealed that quite a few of the so-called top universities have been flaunting ratings that have already expired. Anna University, for example, boasts of a five-star grade awarded by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC); the only catch is that this rating expired as far ago as in February 2007. This is not a solitary case. Seventy other Indian institutes, including Pune University, Mangalore University and the Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages in Hyderabad, have been advertising rankings that expired long ago.

At a time when the ministry of human resource development is serving hard punches to private and deemed universities, its own institutes are sitting pretty on old grades, which are no longer valid. While accreditation is not mandatory, NAAC rules specify that grades are valid only for five years after they are awarded and they expire at the end of that term. Colleges and universities have to re-apply for inspection to receive fresh ranking. NO WORD ON ACTION AGAINST UNIVS Most universities give reassessment a skip