The National Accreditation Commission of Schools and Colleges (NACSC) is an autonomous body registered under Act 2 of 1882 with the State Government of Karnataka, India, under the provisions of Article 1, Section 1 (1) & (2) of the Decree of the Amended NACSC Governance Act, 2016.

NACSC was established and empowered to operate as an independent national accreditation and regulatory authority under the provisions of Article 1, Section 1 (3) & (4) of the same Act, which validates NACSC’s authority as an independent accreditation body. Additionally, NACSC aligns with the principles outlined in the framework for independent accreditation agencies in the State Government of Andhra Pradesh’s Clause (V) of Section 9 in Act 21 of 2019 and functions independently, remaining outside the purview of the government.

In the 2022 General Assembly, the NACSC board approved the implementation of a robust framework based on ESG, WFME, AMSE, ORPHEUS, NAAC, and other global standards to enhance trust, mobility, and recognition across higher education systems. This initiative aims to ensure high quality and relevance at all levels by the end of 2023. The board also decided to initiate an external peer review from organizations such as EQAR, ENQA, WFME, APQR, IREG, and others.

After the enforcement of the Decree of the Amended NACSC Governance Act, NACSC revised its accreditation and quality assurance methodology and procedures in higher education to fully align with the principles of the Bologna Declaration and the Lisbon Strategy, adhering to the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG - 2015).

NACSC accreditation framework is mapped to the European Standards and Guidelines (ESG) under the EHEA, aligning its CGPA grading scale (A⁺⁺ to C) with global quality frameworks such as CHEA (USA), QAA (UK), and TEQSA (Australia), ensuring international recognition and academic mobility.

NACSC’s mission is to serve as an independent accreditation body for both national and international schools and higher educational institutions (HEI's), adhering to the regulatory standards and practices established under this Act to ensure the quality and credibility of its accreditation processes.