NAAC accreditation is the quality assessment that most Indian universities and colleges must undergo under University Grants Commission rules, carried out by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council. The Ministry of Education describes NAAC as an autonomous body under the UGC, and its outcome decides eligibility for central grants, for offering distance and online degrees and, increasingly, for an institution’s standing with students and partners.
The system is in the middle of a change. The ministry has approved a move away from letter grades towards a simpler accredited or not accredited decision, followed by graded maturity levels. This guide explains the rules that apply today, what is changing and where the transition stood as of the most recent official notices.
Who must seek NAAC accreditation
The legal basis is the UGC (Mandatory Assessment and Accreditation of Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2012, published in the Gazette of India in January 2013. Clause 4.1 makes it “mandatory for each Higher Educational Institution” in scope to be accredited.
The regulations cover universities set up under central or state Acts, non-technical deemed universities and non-technical colleges, including autonomous colleges. Technical institutions fall outside them. An institution becomes due for NAAC accreditation once two batches have graduated or six years have passed, whichever comes first, and must apply within six months of reaching that point.
Accreditation under the 2012 regulations lasts five years, and reaccreditation must be sought six months before expiry. The consequences of not complying are financial and legal. An unaccredited institution cannot receive UGC scheme funding, cannot be declared a deemed university except as a de novo institution, and cannot be recognised under Section 12B or Section 2(f) of the UGC Act.
How much of the sector holds NAAC accreditation
Coverage has been the system’s main weakness. In a Lok Sabha answer of 13 February 2023, the ministry said NAAC had accredited 418 of 1,113 universities and 9,062 of 43,796 colleges as of 31 January 2023, using the AISHE 2020 to 2021 count of institutions.
A ministry press release of 7 July 2023 named the reasons. It said NAAC, the National Board of Accreditation and NIRF each run their own exercises, that institutions are reluctant to volunteer, and that overlapping information demands discourage them from taking part.
More recent figures come from news reporting rather than an official release. Careers360 reported on 16 October 2025 that a report on the NAAC website listed 11,829 institutions accredited in their first cycle up to 14 August 2025: 561 universities and 11,268 colleges. Of these, 2,533 held an A grade, 7,850 a B grade and 1,446 a C grade.
The current NAAC grading system and criteria
Under the current NAAC grading system, an institution prepares a Self-Study Report against a quality indicator framework, and is scored on a four point scale that leads to a letter grade. UGC rules refer directly to those scores, as the section on eligibility below shows.
NAAC’s manual for universities, as reproduced by Shivaji University in May 2026, sets out seven criteria with weightages totalling 1,000 marks, split into 34 key indicators. Many quantitative metrics ask for data covering the last five years.
| Criterion | Weightage for universities |
|---|---|
| I. Curricular Aspects | 150 |
| II. Teaching-Learning and Evaluation | 200 |
| III. Research, Innovations and Extension | 250 |
| IV. Infrastructure and Learning Resources | 100 |
| V. Student Support and Progression | 100 |
| VI. Governance, Leadership and Management | 100 |
| VII. Institutional Values and Best Practices | 100 |
Research carries the largest share for universities, at 250 of 1,000 marks. Students also feed in directly: Key Indicator 2.7, the Student Satisfaction Survey, carries 30 marks within Criterion II. The weightages differ for other types of institution, which have their own manuals.
Why NAAC accreditation scores matter for degree programmes
NAAC scores are written into UGC eligibility rules. The UGC (Open and Distance Learning Programmes and Online Programmes) Regulations, 2020, notified on 4 September 2020, require a minimum NAAC score of 3.01 on a 4 point scale for open and distance learning. For online programmes, one route requires a score of 3.26 or more and another a minimum of 3.01, each combined with conditions on NIRF ranks.
A third amendment notified in May 2024 states that the “NAAC and NIRF ranking requirements shall be valid for academic session beginning July-August, 2024 and onwards, unless notified otherwise”. The commission’s checklist for distance learning programmes sits alongside these rules.
That link explains why the switch away from scores matters commercially. Universities that run large online and distance programmes, and the platform companies that partner with them, rely on a NAAC grading system score to qualify. If NAAC accreditation becomes a yes or no outcome, the UGC will need a different measure to decide who may offer those degrees.
As of November 2026, no UGC amendment replacing the score thresholds had been identified in the regulations listed on the commission’s website. Until one appears, the score attached to an existing grade remains the operative test for these programmes, which gives institutions with a high current score a reason to track the transition date closely.
Penalties, costs and support around NAAC accreditation
The 2012 regulations set out sanctions beyond loss of UGC grants. Clause 9 allows the commission to remove an institution from its list of recognised institutions, withhold grants, bar future assistance and issue a public notice that the institution is not accredited. Those powers apply to any institution in scope that fails to seek NAAC accreditation on time.
The government has also tried to make the process cheaper. The February 2023 Lok Sabha answer said NAAC had “considerably reduced the fee structure for Assessment and Accreditation” and cut the number of self-study metrics for affiliated and constituent colleges, the group with the lowest coverage.
The same answer restated the National Education Policy aim that institutions “attain the highest level of accreditation over the next 15 years” through their Institutional Development Plans. That goal underpins the redesign that followed, which tries to bring the large unaccredited college sector inside the system before asking it to climb a graded ladder.
Accreditation reform is not unique to India. Regulators in the Gulf are also revising their models, as covered in our reports on Qatar’s accreditation plans and on Saudi Arabia’s ETEC.
Binary accreditation and maturity based levels
The reform began with a committee chaired by Dr K. Radhakrishnan. The July 2023 press release says the committee’s draft report on strengthening periodic assessment and accreditation of all higher educational institutions was open for public comment from 19 May 2023, with the deadline extended to 15 July 2023. A sub-committee chaired by Prof. Rajat Moona was asked to develop a unified data framework.
The ministry has since approved the committee’s recommendations. In a Lok Sabha answer of 8 December 2025, the Minister of State for Education said NAAC is implementing the reforms in two phases: first “Basic/ Binary Accreditation”, then “Maturity Based Graded Levels”. Over the long run, the reply said, accreditation will become a binary process in line with global practice.
Under binary accreditation, an institution is either accredited or not, with no score. The detail of the five maturity levels has not been published in an official document that this guide could open. Telangana Today reported on 27 January 2024 that institutions would be placed in Levels 1 to 5, with Level 4 denoting national excellence and Level 5 global excellence in multidisciplinary research and education.
The long term target comes from the National Education Policy. The December 2025 reply says institutions are expected to reach the highest accreditation level over 15 years through their Institutional Development Plans, with the aim of becoming self-governing, degree granting institutions or clusters.
Where the NAAC accreditation transition stands
As of the most recent NAAC notice that this guide could open, the new framework had not yet launched. A NAAC notice dated 5 December 2025, published by the University of Calcutta, said Basic (Binary) Accreditation would be launched “soon”, ahead of the maturity levels. The Lok Sabha reply three days later added that NAAC had held outreach programmes and consultations with state higher education authorities on the new methodology.
The same notice extends existing grades for institutions accredited under the Revised Accreditation Framework whose validity expires between 27 January 2024 and the launch of the maturity levels. The extension of NAAC accreditation runs “for a maximum period of three months after the launch of MBGL Accreditation”, so institutions in that window keep their current status until then.
An earlier NAAC public notice of 2 September 2025 warned institutions against individuals and organisations offering paid advice on the proposed framework. It said the Basic Accreditation and maturity level manuals are NAAC’s intellectual property and that unauthorised use “will attract legal action”.
The NAAC accreditation process has also been tightened. Careers360 reported that after a February 2025 Central Bureau of Investigation case involving members of NAAC inspection committees, accreditation was paused and new procedures introduced, with peer assessment online only for colleges and hybrid for universities.
What NAAC accreditation changes mean for institutions
For colleges without NAAC accreditation, binary accreditation is the likely first step once it opens, and the regulatory duty to be accredited under the 2012 regulations has not changed. The reforms are built around a unified data framework, so the quality of an institution’s own records will matter more than a one off submission.
For universities that already hold NAAC accreditation, the immediate question is timing. A current grade remains valid within the terms of the December 2025 notice, but the scores that UGC rules rely on will not be issued under a binary system. Institutions running online programmes, and their partners, should watch for any UGC amendment that replaces the NAAC grading system threshold.
The NAAC website remains the place for official notices, and the ministry’s replies to Parliament give the clearest statement of policy. Until NAAC publishes the launch notice and the manuals, the 2012 regulations and the existing grade remain the working basis of NAAC accreditation for every institution in scope.
