The National Board of Accreditation (NBA), India was initially established by the AICTE (All India Council of Technical Education) under section 10(u) of AICTE Act, in the year 1994, in order to assess the qualitative competence of the programs offered by educational institution from diploma level to post-graduate level in engineering and technology, management, pharmacy, architecture and related disciplines, which are approved by AICTE.

NBA came into existence as an independent autonomous body with effect from 7th January 2010 with the objectives of assurance of quality and relevance to technical education, especially of the programs in professional and technical disciplines, i.e., Engineering and Technology, Management, Architecture, Pharmacy and Hotel Management and Catering Technology, through the mechanism of accreditation of programs offered by technical institutions. The Memorandum of Association and Rules of NBA were amended in April 2013, to make it completely independent of AICTE, administratively as well as financially. The NBA conducts evaluation of programs of technical institutes on the basis of laid down norms. This may include, but not limited to institutional missions and objectives, organization and governance, infrastructure facilities, quality of teaching and learning, curriculum design and review, support services (library, laboratory, instrumentation, computer facilities, etc.) and any other aspect as decided by the General Council and / or Executive Committee of NBA, which will help the graduates produced by the institutions as per industry requirements.

Over the period of its existance, the NBA has introduced a new processes, parameters and criteria for accreditation that are in line with the best international practices and oriented to assess the outcomes of the programme.