NAAC Accreditation of HEIs in India: An Agile-Scrum Project Management Approach

Achieving National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) accreditation is an aspirational goal for all higher educational institutions (HEIs) and universities in India. The Internal Quality Assurance Cell plays a major and pivotal role in implementing, sustaining, and growing the quality initiatives in HEIs. Project management, defined as applying knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements, can play a crucial role in this endeavor. This work proposes an Agile-Scrum-based project management model to streamline and enhance institutional effectiveness throughout the accreditation process. The model emphasizes continuous improvement through iterative cycles, focusing on specific NAAC criteria within each sprint. It outlines the application of product backlog creation, time-boxed sprints, daily scrums, sprint reviews, and retrospectives to effectively manage the accreditation journey. This approach fosters collaboration, transparency, and adaptability, ensuring that HEI's address NAAC requirements efficiently. The implementation of agile methodology was undertaken by giving awareness training to faculty and staff as 60% of them had no idea of this methodology. The effectiveness of training is an important issue to have smooth conduct of the events and over three forth of respondents were happy with the quantity and quality of training provided. 80% of respondents agreed that the effectiveness increased, which significantly impacted how the institution projected itself to the peer team and the minimal queries raised during DVV. By implementing this Agile-Scrum model, HEIs can improve their preparedness for NAAC accreditation and achieve continuous institutional improvement.