Paramarsh Scheme in Higher Education

On 10.08.2019 the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) launched 'Paramarsh' scheme, which is a University Grants Commission (UGC) scheme for mentoring National Accreditation and Assessment Council (NAAC) Accreditation Aspirant Institutions to promote Quality Assurance in Higher Education.

Background and Mission

Higher education institutions that have failed to meet the quality standards of the NAAC can now get mentorship from the top universities and colleges.

Under the Paramarsh scheme, initially 71 universities and 391 colleges with NAAC score of 3.26 and above will mentor five colleges each.

The first step of the mission is to improve the quality and standards of education that has been initiated by the UGC with the launch of Paramarsh and Deeksharambh.

Aim of Paramarsh Scheme

To improve the global ranking of the Indian higher education institutions.

The scheme also proposes to provide financial assistance to the mentoring institutions and the option of appointing an expert, who can be paid a fellowship amount of Rs. 31,000 per month.

The scheme will lead to enhancement of the mentee institutions' quality and its profile as a result of improved quality of research, teaching and learning methodologies.

Benefits of the Paramarsh Scheme

The scheme will be a paradigm shift in the concept of mentoring of institution by another well performing institution to upgrade their academic performance and enable them to get accredited by focusing in the area of curricular aspects, teaching-learning & evaluation, research, innovation, institutional values & practices etc.

The scheme is expected to have a major impact in addressing a national challenge of improving the quality of Higher Education in India.

Scheme will be operationalized through a "Hub & Spoke" model wherein the Mentor Institution, called the "Hub" is centralized and will have the responsibility of guiding the Mentee institution through the secondary branches the "Spoke" through the services provided to the mentee for self-improvement.

This allows a centralized control over operational efficiency, resource utilization to attain overall development of the mentee institution.

Scheme will lead to enhancement of overall quality of the Mentee Institutions and enhance its profile as a result of improved quality of research, teaching and learning methodologies.
Mentee Institution will also have increased exposure and speedier adaptation to best practices.

It will also facilitate sharing of knowledge, information and opportunities for research collaboration and faculty development in Mentee Institutions.
It will target 1000 Higher Education Institutions for mentoring with a specific focus on quality as enumerated in the UGC "Quality Mandate".

Mentor-Mentee relationship will not only benefit both the institutions but also provide quality education to the 3.6 crore students who are enrolling to Indian Higher Education system at present.

Eligibility criteria by UGC

The eligibility guidelines laid down by UGC say the mentor and the mentee can be government, aided, private or self-financing institution.

The mentor institution should be NAAC accredited with an A grade, having an overall score of 3.26 and above.

Any such institution recognised under 2(f) & 12B of the UGC Act 1956 will be eligible to receive UGC grants for the purpose.

Since these grants will be used for mentoring the institution and not for creation of any infrastructure, the private institution can also receive funding as they do for student teacher centric schemes.

The mentee institution will also have increased exposure and speedier adaptation to best practices

Scheme will also facilitate sharing of knowledge, information and opportunities for research collaboration and faculty development in mentee institutions

About NAAC

The NAAC is an autonomous body that assesses and accredits higher education institutions (HEIs) in India. It assesses the higher learning institutes on the basis of seven parametres.

The parametres include teaching-learning and evaluation, infrastructure and learning resources, research, innovation and extension, curricular aspects, governance, leadership and management, student support and progression and institutional values and best practices.