NAAC rankings out; SRCC emerges as the best college of Delhi University

New Delhi: Delhi's prestigious college Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) has received the highest score from the National Accreditation and Assessment Council (NAAC) that has given the now-mandatory scores to around 35 colleges under Delhi University on their quality status. 

Out of 35 colleges, SRCC received the highest score of 3.65 closely followed by Lady Shri Ram College for Women that received a score of 3.61. The result came as quite shocking for many as Delhi's St. Stephen's College, which is one of most reputed institutes, was given a score of 3.21. 

St. Stephen was given the 12th spot on the list, lower than the likes of Hindu, Kirori Mal, Khalsa, IP, Gargi, Jesus and Mary and Acharya Narendra Dev. 

NAAC, which is an autonomous body of the University Grants Commission (UGC), considers a few parameters on the basis of which the accreditation status is given. The parameters include covering the curriculum, teaching-learning, evaluation, faculty, research, infrastructure, learning resources, governance and student services.

The UGC, the agency that funds higher education, started the process of making the NAAC accreditation compulsory for colleges in 2012. Delhi University accepted the accreditation 2014 following which 35 colleges were given scores this year for the first time.

While several colleges were satisfied with the process, there were some who objected to the criteria of assessment. 

"The criteria shouldn't be the same for a liberal arts college like ours, where we do not have the provisions for a laboratory and are not involved in research publications," Babli Saraf, principal of Indraprastha College for Women, was quoted as saying by Times of India. 

"They should also review the college's reputation and extension aspects. Extracurricular activities should get extra weightage," Principal of Hindu College Anuja Srivastava said. 

Other colleges such as Gargi College received a score of 3.80, Zakir Hussain - 3.12, Deshbandhu College - 2.80, Pannalal Girdharlal Dayanand Anglo Vedic College - 2.74, Motilal Nehru College - 2.60, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College with a rating of 2.63. 

The maximum weightage during the rating was given to teaching and learning and the evaluation was made out of four points.