UGC Paramarsh Scheme: NAAC Mentoring, Eligibility, Benefits & Current Status

What is the Paramarsh Scheme?

Paramarsh was launched by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, now the Ministry of Education, as a UGC scheme for mentoring NAAC accreditation aspirant institutions and promoting quality assurance in higher education.

The scheme is based on institutional mentoring: a stronger, better-performing institution supports another institution in improving academic systems, governance, documentation, quality processes and accreditation readiness.

The initiative formed part of the UGC Quality Mandate for improving higher-education standards and increasing accreditation coverage.

Main Aims of Paramarsh

• Improve institutional quality and accreditation readiness.
• Support non-accredited and accreditation-aspirant institutions.
• Strengthen teaching-learning and evaluation practices.
• Improve research, innovation and faculty development.
• Promote sound governance, leadership and institutional management.
• Encourage adoption of best practices from well-performing institutions.
• Improve the overall quality profile and reputation of mentee institutions.
• Support the broader national goal of improving quality in higher education.

Hub-and-Spoke Mentoring Model

Paramarsh operates through a Hub-and-Spoke model.

The model is designed to improve operational efficiency and allow experienced institutions to guide multiple mentee institutions through structured quality-enhancement activities.

Original UGC Eligibility Framework

The original Paramarsh guidelines permitted government, aided, private and self-financing institutions to participate, subject to UGC conditions.

Mentor Institution

• Should be a well-performing higher education institution.
• The original scheme specified NAAC accreditation with Grade A and an overall score of 3.26 or above.
• Institutions recognised under Sections 2(f) and 12B of the UGC Act, 1956 were eligible for UGC grant support under the original funding framework.

Mentee Institution

• Could be a government, aided, private or self-financing higher education institution.
• Should be seeking quality improvement and accreditation support.
• Participation depends on the applicable UGC mentoring arrangement and current institutional selection.

Areas Covered by Paramarsh Mentoring

The scheme supports institutional development across areas closely aligned with quality-assurance and accreditation frameworks, including:

• curricular aspects;
• teaching-learning and evaluation;
• research, innovation and extension;
• infrastructure and learning resources;
• student support and progression;
• governance, leadership and management;
• institutional values and best practices;
• faculty development and research collaboration; and
• quality documentation and self-improvement systems.

Benefits of the Paramarsh Scheme

• Faster adoption of proven institutional best practices.
• Improved readiness for assessment and accreditation.
• Improved teaching, research and learning methodologies.
• Greater faculty-development and collaboration opportunities.
• Improved institutional governance and quality-assurance culture.
• Knowledge sharing between mentor and mentee institutions.
• Improved institutional profile and visibility.
• Long-term benefits for students through improved educational quality.

Paramarsh, NAAC and Higher-Education Accreditation

NAAC is an autonomous institution engaged in assessment and accreditation of higher education institutions. Accreditation evaluates institutional quality using academic, administrative and governance parameters.

The broader UGC regulatory framework continues to treat assessment and accreditation as important quality-assurance mechanisms. UGC regulations provide for assessment and accreditation agencies, academic-quality standards and institutional assessment processes.

NEP 2020 also supports mentoring, institutional development and accreditation so that colleges progressively attain prescribed quality benchmarks.

Current Status and Relevance of Paramarsh

The UGC's current administrative listings continue to identify PARAMARSH as a scheme handled by the Commission. This indicates that the initiative remains within the UGC's quality and mentoring architecture.

However, institutions should distinguish between the continuing mentoring concept and historical launch-stage figures. The original mentor numbers, mentee target, fellowship amount and grant arrangements should not be assumed to apply unchanged to every current case.

Institutions seeking accreditation or mentoring support should check current UGC communications, applicable accreditation-agency requirements and institutional-development guidelines.

Current Quality-Assurance Context

Higher-education quality policy has expanded since the 2019 launch of Paramarsh. UGC now also publishes guidance on institutional development planning, public self-disclosure, academic standards, multidisciplinary education, student support and other NEP-aligned reforms.

Paramarsh should therefore be understood as one part of a wider quality-assurance and institutional-development framework rather than as a standalone accreditation substitute.

Key Points to Remember

• Paramarsh is a UGC mentoring scheme for accreditation-aspirant institutions.
• It uses a Hub-and-Spoke mentor-mentee model.
• The original mentor threshold was NAAC Grade A with score 3.26 or above.
• Mentoring covers curriculum, teaching, research, governance, student support and institutional values.
• The original 1,000-HEI target and ₹31,000 expert fellowship are historical scheme parameters.
• UGC's current administrative listing still includes PARAMARSH.
• Institutions should verify current UGC and accreditation requirements before applying or relying on historical funding terms.