A REVIEW OF QUALITY ASSURANCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

In recent years India has seen a tremendous growth in the number and types of institutions providing higher education. In order for organizations and individuals to remain competitive in a rapidly changing environment, demand for education and training has become more critical than before. To respond to this demand, new institutions have continued to emerge. At present, India has about 304 Universities, including 62 Deemed Universities, 11 open Universities, and 15,000 colleges, incorporating approximately 10 million students and 0.5 million teachers. The performance of higher education institutions is a growing concern. The pressure for quality assurance poses a major challenge for higher education as in case of many developing countries including India. With increasing interaction of commerce, trade and education across national borders, needs for measures of the quality of education in a given country or region are growing each year. NAAC is an autonomous institution, established by the UGC in 1994. The primary objective of NAAC is to assess and accredit institutions of higher learning with an objective of helping them to work continuously to improve the quality of education. The aim is to provide universities with the best evidence for informing their focus and models for quality improvement. According to the Ministry of Human Resource Development, India, only about 10-11% of the population in the relevant age-group is enrolled in higher education, and a mere 5% graduate with degrees. Quality assurance refers to the policies, attitudes, actions and procedures necessary to ensure that quality is being maintained and enhanced. Accreditation refers to an evaluation of whether an institution qualifies for a certificate status. The purpose of this paper is to determine the state of research in a review of quality assurance in higher education institutions based on a review of the academic literature.