Al-Falah, around 50% of universities don't have valid NAAC accreditation

By FnF Correspondent | PUBLISHED: 28, Nov 2025, 14:47 pm IST | UPDATED: 28, Nov 2025, 14:47 pm IST

Following the Delhi blast on November 10, Al-Falah University in Faridabad has come under the scanner for the alleged academic fraud and expired NAAC claims. The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), in its show cause notice, mentioned that the Al-Falah School of Engineering and Technology's 'Grade A' accreditation was valid from 2013 to 2018, while the Al-Falah School of Education and Training's accreditation was valid from 2011 to 2016.

Meanwhile, it's not Al-Falah University; around 50 per cent of universities in India do not have valid NAAC accreditation. UGC in 2023 mentioned that India has a total of 1,074 universities, which includes 56 central universities, 460 state universities, 430 private universities, and 128 deemed to be universities.

However, NAAC data as of 2025 showed that only 561 universities out of 1,074 have a valid NAAC accreditation, which results in nearly 50 per cent of universities currently functioning without proper NAAC accreditation.

Replying to India TV's query on why around fifty per cent of the Indian universities are without valid NAAC accreditation, Anil Sahasrabudhe, chairman of the executive committee of NAAC, said, "NAAC is voluntary for getting evaluated for quality assurance, and hence no action can be taken by NAAC for not coming forward for accreditation. NAAC conducts workshops for creating awareness about its usefulness to do self-correction on parameters where the institute is lacking. It's the government—state, central, or regulatory bodies such as UGC AICTE—who can make it mandatory and take action if not followed. As of now it's not made mandatory by regulators either. Right now we are encouraging and providing incentives in terms of autonomy, etc., for accredited institutes."

NAAC's show cause notice

The NAAC show cause notice reads, "which is neither accredited nor applied for accreditation by NAAC," and has publicly displayed on its website that "Al-Falah University is an endeavour of Al-Falah Charitable Trust, which has been running three colleges on the campus, namely Al-Falah School of Engineering and Technology (since 1997, Graded A by NAAC), Brown Hill College of Engineering and Technology (since 2008), and Al-Falah School of Education and Training (since 2006, Graded A by NAAC)." "This is absolutely wrong and misleading the public, especially the parents, students, and stakeholders," the show-cause notice read.

Al-Falah's response

The institute has responded to the show cause notice stating that the outdated accreditation was overlooked and has been taken down. According to the institute, the outdated accreditation claims on its website were the result of unintentional lapses and website-design errors, multiple reports quoting NAAC officials stated.