Members of an expert committee formed by the North Bengal University to review the institution and make recommendations so that it could get a better grade from the National Assessment & Accreditation Council (NAAC) visited the varsity on Wednesday.

Omprakash Mishra, the vice-chancellor, said the four-member committee went through the self-study report and interacted with faculty members and varsity officials. While three members were physically present, one was present virtually.

“During the next two days, the committee will examine the remaining key areas of NAAC’s assessment and will submit a report on April 28 on their findings and suggestions for scope of further improvement,” he said.

Earlier, NBU was conferred an A grade by NAAC — an autonomous body based in Bangalore and funded by the UGC that grades higher educational institutions. But in 2022, when the last NAAC report was published, NBU got a B++.

"This made the varsity authorities take the initiative to form a committee and act on its recommendations so that NBU gets a higher grade in the next assessment,” said a source.

The next NAAC assessment will be held in 2024.

Committee members R.K. Chauhan, a former secretary of UGC, Vir Bala Agarwal of Himachal Pradesh University, and K.K. Mishra, director of accreditation, Chitkara University, held a series of meetings with teachers, officials and members of other committees. The fourth member of the expert committee, B.K. Punia, a former vice-chancellor of MD University, Haryana, was present through virtual mode, the source added.

Contacted, Chauhan said they would focus on seven criteria of assessment so that the institution gets a good NAAC accreditation, but did not elaborate on them.

“A report will be submitted to the university, highlighting the shortcomings, and it will have certain recommendations,” he said.