Patna’s AN College gets highest NAAC grade in Bihar

Patna’s AN College has got A+ grade with 3.36 institutional cumulative grade point average (CGPA) in the latest grading by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), which issued the grade Wednesday, principal Praveen Kumar said.

This is the highest grade for any college in the state.

Among the universities in the state, Central University of South Bihar (CUSB) has the top ranking of A++.

AN college has improved its CGPA score from 3.26 to 3.36 to move into the A+ grade from A grade earlier. The validity of the college’s earlier grading had expired on October 29, 2022, and it immediately applied for fresh accreditation.

Magadh University vice chancellor Shashi Pratap Shahi, during whose term as principal of AN College the self-study report (SSR) was submitted to NAAC, said it was the result of the collective effort of the institution’s teachers and staff and support of the state government. “But there is still a long way to go for the college. It feels good that the efforts have been rewarded,” he said.

Incumbent college principal Praveen Kumar said the Bihar government gave ₹40 crore to the college for necessary infrastructure development. “We could have done even better had our teacher-student ratio been good. Against the sanctioned strength of 156, we have just 73 teachers, while the students’ strength is over 8,000, but still, we have ushered in all reforms, including the choice based credit system (CBCS),” he said.

N K Agarwal of State Higher Education Council (SHEC) said that AN College’s grade would be an inspiration for other colleges in the state.

In its recommendation, NAAC has called for the need to develop e-content by training faculty members, integrate academic-industry interface, go in for exchange programmes with other universities and international institutions and promote consultancy opportunities.

The college has also been asked to start post-graduate programmes in more departments, along with Ph.D programmes. “The college should start skill-oriented vocational degree programmes in accordance with the recommendations of the National Eduction Policy (NEP),” it said.

The number of institutions graded by the NAAC had slumped in Bihar drastically, but has now has again started improving and reached 43.

Bihar has over 250 constituent colleges. The number of NAAC accredited institutions had reached over 100 a couple of years ago, but Covid disruption and indifference of many institutions led to the fall.