DW BUREAU / chandigarh With the Punjab government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann laying major thrust on imparting quality higher education to youth of the state, the Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar has got A++ grade by scoring 3.85 points in NAAC, thereby becoming the only only State/Central/Private University in India to get this score. Congratulating the teaching, research fellows, non-teaching and students, the Chief Minister said that this amazing accomplishment is the result of persistent effort made by everyone of them. He said that the state government is committed for promoting higher education in a big way so that youth of Punjab can excel in every field. Bhagwant Mann expressed hope that all the universities in state will replicate Guru Nanak Dev University to bring laurels for the state. Pertinently, the university has scored 3.85 out of 4 marks and obtained the A++ highest grade thus bringing a laurel for the entire state. The Guru Nanak Dev University has become the only one amongst all state public , private and central universities in the country to attain this grade and is second one amongst all institutions across the country. Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) is the only other educational institution with a higher grade of 3.89 in the country. Meanwhile, Higher Education Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer said that the University during fourth cycle of Assessment and Accreditation has been accredited with a CGPA of 3.85 at A++ Grade which will be valid for the next seven years. He said that Guru Nanak Dev University has improved its grade from 3.51 to 3.85 from the last accreditation cycle which was done in 2014. Meet Hayer said that University has performed better than all State and Central universities of the country accredited by NAAC. The Minister said that assessment is based on set of seven criteria under different key aspects based on the functioning and organizational focus. He said that this criteria include Curricular aspects, Teaching- learning and evaluation, Research, innovations and extension; Infrastructure and Learning resources; Student Support and Progression; Governance, Leadership and Management; Institutional Values and Best Practices. Meet Hayer said that University has seen an increase in its h-index from 64 to 129 in the last 5 years and has published a total of 19776 research articles in high impact factor journals to its credit. The Minister said that university is known of propagation of translational research and institutional consultancy and has also attracted a number of central and state grants for improving its infrastructure and research facilities. He said that the university has been credited for its excellent infrastructure for teaching, learning, and research and eco- friendly lush green campus. Meet Hayer said in the field of sports also, the university has the rare accomplishment of winning the coveted Maulana Abul Kalam Azam trophy in sports for the record 24 times this year. (editor@dailyworld.in)