Mita Mukherjee

The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS), Kolkata, established 25 years ago is set to obtain National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) accreditation for the first time.

A five-member team of NAAC will visit the campus on Monday November 26 as a part of the process of the accreditation. The team will conduct an inspection of the institute founded by N R Madhav Menon, the pioneer of modern legal education in India,the university vice-chancellor Nirmal Kanti Chakrabarti said. The inspection will continue till November 28.

The institute was established under the WBNUJS Act adopted in the West Bengal Assembly in 1999 and it started operating in the following year. It was notified under clause (f) of Section 2 of the UGC Act, 1956 in 2004 and granted permanent affiliation by the Bar Council of India, the highest regulatory body of legal education in the country in 2005.

 Though it is considered one of the best among the top law schools in the country, NUJS did not have NAAC accreditation, a yardstick that denotes academic excellence of an institute.

 According to Chakrabarti, NUJS, one of the most sought-after institutes among meritorious students, had been trying to obtain NAAC accreditation for a long time. The institute had been placed in the fourth position in the NIRF ranking for three consecutive years.

“The University Grants Commission (UGC) granted its recognition to the institute way back in 2003. Attempts had been made to apply for NAAC accreditation several times by my predecessors. Somehow, the attempts did not materialize. We are happy that finally we have been able to reach the last stage of getting the accreditation,” Chakrabarti told EducationWorld.

The NAAC accreditation is awarded after assessing an institute on various parameters. Such as, the kind of curriculum offered by an institute including the design, content planning and implementation of the courses, faculty strength and infrastructure support to ensure imparting of quality education, facilities offered for student progression, governance and leadership, teaching, learning and evaluation, research and innovation, consultancy and collaborations with other institutions. The NAAC evaluation is done using a grading system based on cumulative grade point average (CGPA).

An institution’s classrooms, laboratories, computing facilities, cultural activities, sports and games activities are also taken into consideration for assessment.

The vice-chancellor said the NUJS has already earned a lot of reputation for its academic excellence and the institute hopes to achieve greater heights after the NAAC accreditation.

“The accreditation validates the course and programmes offered by the institute. We have a plan to apply for the Institute of Eminence status after obtaining the NAAC accreditation,” Chakrabarti said.     

The NAAC peer team visiting the campus comprises academics from various parts of the country. It is headed by Dr RGB Bhagabath Kumar former vice-chancellor of Damodaram Sanjivayya National Law University, Andhra Pradesh, as chairperson and Professor Dr. Ashok R. Patil, vice-chancellor, National University of Study and research in Law Jharkhand shall act as member coordinator.

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