Summary
Presidency vice-chancellor Anuradha Lohia had then said the fledgling university would significantly improve its performance in the next cycle
Presidency, which in its erstwhile avatar as a government college got an A+, obtained an A for a second time in an assessment by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC).
The university has got an A-grade in NAAC’s university-level assessment, results of which were announced on Tuesday, said Presidency registrar Debajyoti Konar.
The university in its last assessment by the NAAC in December 2016 had got the same grade.
Presidency vice-chancellor Anuradha Lohia had then said the fledgling university would significantly improve its performance in the next cycle.
The results of the latest assessment suggest that the historic College Street institution has barely made progress.
Konar said in a statement: “We are delighted to share that Presidency University has secured an improved CGPA of 3.13 / 4 ( Grade A) in the NAAC University level assessment. This is effective from 16th June 2024 and will be valid for the next 5 years.”
“The peer team visit of NAAC was conducted during 5th to 7th June 2024. For the said assessment the Self-Study Report (SSR) was submitted for the year July 2017 to June 2022 which includes 2 years of the unprecedented challenging period of COVID. This is an achievement of all stakeholders of the University”.
Asked why the university could not improve its grade, Konar told Metro: “The assessment, among other things, gives weightage to research and publication. During the Covid period, research and publication suffered as the laboratories were shut. In other parameters, like governance and academics, our performance has improved compared to the last cycle. Which is why our score has improved.”
In the December 2016 assessment, Presidency got an A with a CGPA of 3.04.
Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira, Belur in September 2021 had got A++ — the highest grade — in an NAAC assessment.
A+ is the second highest grade, which Presidency as a government College had bagged in 2006.
Bivas Chaudhuri, vice- president of the Presidency Alumni Association, said: “It is unfortunate that Presidency University is not being able to retain the grade which Presidency as a government college had secured in 2006. This concerns us because the state government has provided maximum support to Presidency among state-aided universities. In recent times, many government and aided colleges have got better NAAC grades than Presidency.”
Behala College, a government-aided college in southwest Calcutta’s Parnashree, got an A++ in March 2023.
Around the same time, Bethune College, a government college, bagged an A+.
Anup Sinha, a former professor of IIM Calcutta who taught at the erstwhile Presidency College, told Metro: “The NAAC results show Presidency has not been able to attain the standards it was expected to. There seems to be a leadership crisis. The state government apart from sanctioning funds, created chair professors posts. But the posts have not been filled up.”
“An institutes requires marquee professors to attract bright students which improves the profile of an institute,” he said.
Last updated on 19 Jun 2024
