As of 2018, there are over ten thousand engineering colleges in India approved by AICTE. As we read from various sources, the quality of the graduates passing out are getting degraded and the majority are not employable. To look into the quality aspects of the same Govt of India has established NAAC Accreditation under UGC and NBA Accreditation under AICTE in 1994. Institutions can voluntarily request for inspection from either of the accreditation or both and are not mandatory. NAAC accredit at the institution level while NBA accreditation is for individual programs (courses).

What is Accreditation? Accreditation is a formal recognition of an educational institution or a degree program by an external authorized agency based on some well-defined and documented criteria and standards. To get accredited, the program or institution need to meet and/or exceed the Norms and Standard prescribed by the regulator from time to time. This external verification helps the students to get recognized by stakeholders for the quality and relevance of the education they completed.

National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) NAAC is an autonomous institution established by UGC to assess the performance evaluation of an institution. They will evaluate the overall functioning of the institution based on the defined criteria and score the institution with grade C being the least and A++ being the best. The NAAC accreditation is valid for a term of five years.

The NAAC assessment and accreditation are based on the following criteria

Curricular Aspects
Teaching-learning & Evaluation Research, Innovations & Extension
Infrastructure & Learning Resources
Student Support & Progression Governance, Leadership & Management
Institutional Values & Best Practices
As of May 2019, there are 5247 NAAC Accredited colleges across the country. You can check the status of any college’s accreditation from their official website

What is the National Board of Accreditation (NBA)? NBA is more specific that it accredits programs instead of the whole institution. This is more helpful as some institutions may have a mix of excellent departments as well as average departments. The process, parameters, and criteria for accreditation used by the NBA are in line with the best international practices and oriented to assess the outcome of the program. The objective of the body is to assure the quality and relevance of education in professional and technical disciplines. The body ensures students a quality and relevant education to the expectation of stakeholders from an accredited program.

In last year Kuwait Society of Engineers (KSE) announced that they have discovered 1400 fake engineers out of which 75% to 80% were from India. As a result, the society had decided to only grant NOC’s (to live and work in the country) to engineers graduating from NBA accredited Programs. Graduates from non-accredited programs were forced to work for a lower level designation with a lower salary. The same is expected to be implemented by many other countries for both job and higher education.

Benefits of being graduated from NBA Program? Accreditation encourages the institutions to continuously improve and enhance the quality as they are voluntarily accepting inspection for the quality of the education provided by them. Being internationally recognized, accreditation facilitates transnational recognition of degrees and mobility of graduates and professionals. More than education, it also improves staff morale, recognizes achievements or innovations, promotes intra and inter-Institutional interactions As said before many of the countries may only accept students from an NBA accredited program for jobs
You may see NBA accredited badge in the college’s website and other promotional media. Please cross-check whether the program you opt for is accredited or not and is valid.

You can check the status of any college’s NBA Accreditation from their official website