New Delhi: In a bid to make assessment and accreditation process more rigorous and credible, National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) has revised its grading pattern from a four grade system to eight grade system. Since 2007, NACC was using the four point grading (A,B,C, and D, symbolizing Very Good, Good, Satisfactory and Unsatisfactory, respectively). Now as per the decision of Executive Committee the Grading System of NAAC, the present system of descriptors for letter grades, i.e., Very Good, Good, Satisfactory, Unsatisfactory was discontinued. The new grading system will have eight grades: A++, A+, A, B++, B+, B, C, D based on Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA). The new grading table is given below.
| CGPA | Letter Grade | Status |
| 3.76 – 4.00 | A++ | Accredited |
| 3.51 – 3.75 | A+ | Accredited |
| 3.01 – 3.50 | A | Accredited |
| 2.76 – 3.00 | B++ | Accredited |
| 2.51 – 2.75 | B+ | Accredited |
| 2.01 – 2.50 | B | Accredited |
| 1.51 – 2.00 | C | Accredited |
| ≤ 1.50 | D | Not Accredited |
The revised grading system is already effective from 1st July 2016. The statement issued by NAAC said that all higher education institutions for which visits taking place from 1st July 2016 onwards should be graded as per the revised grading system irrespective of date of submission of Self Study Report (SSR). NAAC informed that as of now except for the letter grades to be assigned, all other aspects of Assessment and Accreditation methodology such as the Criteria, Key aspects, calculation of Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) etc. and the manuals remain the same.
Clarifying on validity of the previous grading system, NAAC made it clear that Higher Education Institutions already accredited in the earlier grading system will continue with the same accreditation status till validity period.
