11,829 colleges, universities in cycle-1 of NAAC accreditation; 2,533 get grade A

NAAC Accreditation: Just 21% of universities and colleges qualified with an A grade in the first cycle of assessment done by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) till August 2025.

Of the total, the largest cohort was of colleges – around 11,268 – of which 7,610 have been assigned B grade. In contrast, out of a total of 561 universities, 301 – over 50% – have received NAAC grade A.

The count of institutions in the first cycle of NAAC accreditation, 11,829, is more than double the count in the second cycle – 5,505 – implying both growth in new institutions and increased participation of existing ones.

In a separate review of Academic Staff Colleges – now known as Malaviya Mission Teacher Training Centres – seven out of 66 assessed are labelled as “non-performer” and 46 (or 70%), as “under performer”. There are 116 MMTTCs; the first lot of 66 were set up as University Grants Commission – Academic Staff Colleges in 1986. They were renamed UGC-Human Resource Development Centres (UGC-HRDC) in 2015. In 2023, these centres were renamed “Malaviya Mission Teacher Training Centre”. NAAC started reviewing the ASCs in 2012.

2,533 with NAAC Grade A

The report on the NAAC website shows that a total of 11,829 universities and colleges were accredited in their first cycle till August 14.

Of these, 2,533 have grade A, 7,850 grade B, and 1,446 grade C. However, the report does not provide a break-up of how many institutions received NAAC A++, A+, B+ and so forth.

Cycle 1: Distribution of institutions across NAAC grades

In an earlier interview with Careers360, NAAC executive committee member Anil Sahasrabudhe had said that the body is introducing a new system called Basic or Binary Accreditation with traditional grades like NAAC A, A+,A++, B, B+ will be phased out. Institutions will either be accredited or not, based on essential quality criteria.

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As per All India Survey for Higher Education (AISHE) 2021-22 data there are a total of 1,168 universities and 45,473 colleges in the country. Sahasrabudhe had also highlighted the problem of low participation of institutions in the accreditation process. However, that’s clearly changing, as the table below shows.

NAAC Grades: Participating institutions across cycles

NAAC Accreditation: Maharashtra ahead

In the five cycles of accreditation, Maharashtra has had 2,700 colleges and 41 universities accredited.

It is followed by Karnataka with 1,136 and Tamil Nadu with 1,036. However, among just universities, Uttar Pradesh has the highest count – 56 – of NAAC accredited ones.

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In February, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested 10 people, including members of a NAAC inspection committee, for seeking bribes from a private deemed-to-be university in Andhra Pradesh in exchange for higher NAAC grades. The scandal led to a pause in the accreditation process and major changes in the “standard operating procedures” for inspection teams. As per the new SOPs for NAAC accreditation, for colleges, peer assessment is online only and for universities, hybrid.

In this cycle of accreditation, 531 universities and colleges from AP were accreditated.

NAAC review of ASC

University of Rajasthan MMTTC (Image: Careers360)

Of the 66 ASCs, 13 were listed as “performers” with a score of 60 and above. The centre at Guru Jambheswar University of Science and Technology (GJUST), Haryana, had the highest score of 71, followed by University of Rajasthan (UNIRAJ) at 67.

The list of underperformers includes centres in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), University of Jamia Millia Islamia, Aligarh Muslim University, and Savitribai Phule Pune University.

Andhra Pradesh and Telangana together have five underperformers, including MMTTCs at Osmania University, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU), Andhra University, Sri Venkateswara University and Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU). When the review was started in 2012, they were all in one state – Andhra Pradesh.

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Those listed as non-performers, with the score of 40 and below, include Mizoram University, Manipur University, Patna University, Bharathidasan University in Tamil Nadu, Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya and Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University in Chattisgarh; and Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University (BRABU).

NAAC is an autonomous body under the ministry of education and funded by the UGC which is responsible for rating institutions of higher education on a set of parameters, such as research, teaching and learning and others.