The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have rejected a government request to play an important role by becoming accrediting agencies involved in evaluating colleges and universities in the country, instead, they have given nod to strengthen National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) and the National Board of Accreditation (NBA).

MHRD wants IITs and IIMs accrediting agencies for quality check of higher education in the country. The human resource development ministry has been advocating making IITs and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) accrediting bodies to maintain a close watch on the quality of the higher education sector.

The ministry discussed the plan at an IIT council meeting held in Mumbai on Friday.

“Yes, we spoke about the proposal. IITs will not be full fledged accrediting body for evaluating institutions,” said one of the three officials, a member of the IIT council. “The IITs will spare some faculties and help the existing bodies instead,” said the second official.

IIT is ready to free their esteemed professors for strengthening current accrediting agencies. NAAC had communicated with the IITs and IIMs while keeping the ministry in the loop and about 50 professors had committed to helping the organization.

Notably, NAAC, the apex accrediting body in India, accredits institutions while NAB accredits individual courses. India has nearly 50,000 colleges and stand-alone institutions, and 789 universities. But less than 25% of them have any kind of accreditation.