Director: Dr Mohammed Abdul Baseer

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1. Introduction

As per the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) guidelines every accredited institution should establish its own Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC). The Quality enhancement being a continuous process, IQAC becomes a part of the institution’s system and works towards realization of the goals of quality enhancement and sustenance.

 

The prime task of the IQAC is to develop a system for conscious, consistent and catalytic improvement in the overall performance of institutions. To achieve the above said, during the post-accreditation period, institutions need to channelize its efforts and measures towards promoting the holistic academic excellence including the peer committee recommendations.

 

Khaja Bandanawaz University was established in the year 2018 and IQAC Cell was formed soon after. Since then, it has taken up all the activities necessary to assure that University is at its best. Our university is due for its First NAAC accreditation, which might be held in the year 2023.

 

The Vision of IQAC is to ensure quality culture as the prime concern for the Higher Education Institutions through institutionalizing and internalizing all the initiatives taken with internal and external support.

Objectives:

• To develop a system for conscious, consistent and catalytic action to improve the academic and administrative performance of the institution.

• To promote measures for institutional functioning towards quality enhancement through internalization of quality culture and institutionalization of best practices.

 

Strategies:

• Ensuring timely, efficient and progressive performance of academic, administrative and financial tasks;

• Relevant and quality academic/ research programmes;

• Equitable access to and affordability of academic programmes for various sections of society;

• Optimization and integration of modern methods of teaching and learning;

• The credibility of assessment and evaluation process;

• Ensuring the adequacy, maintenance and proper allocation of support structure and services;

• Sharing of research findings and networking with other institutions in India and abroad.

 

Functions:

• Development and application of quality benchmarks.

• Parameters for various academic and administrative activities of the institution;

• Facilitating the creation of a learner-centric environment conducive to quality education and faculty maturation to adopt the required knowledge and technology for participatory teaching and learning process;

• Collection and analysis of feedback from all stakeholders on quality-related institutional processes;

• Dissemination of information on various quality parameters to all stakeholders;

• Organization of inter and intra institutional workshops, seminars on quality related themes and promotion of quality circles;

• Documentation of the various programmes/activities leading to quality improvement;

• Acting as a nodal agency of the Institution for coordinating quality-related activities, including adoption and dissemination of best practices;

• Development and maintenance of institutional database through MIS for the purpose of maintaining /enhancing the institutional quality;

• Periodical conduct of Academic and Administrative Audit and its follow-up;

• Preparation and submission of the Annual Quality Assurance Report (AQAR) as per guidelines and parameters of NAAC.

 

Benefits:

• Ensure clarity and focus in institutional functioning towards quality enhancement;

• Ensure internalization of the quality culture;

• Ensure enhancement and coordination among various activities of the institution and institutionalize all good practices;

• Provide a sound basis for decision-making to improve institutional functioning;

• Act as a dynamic system for quality changes in HEIs;

• Build an organised methodology of documentation and internal communication.

 

Composition of the IQAC

IQAC may be constituted in every institution under the Chairmanship of the Head of theinstitution with heads of important academic and administrative units and a few teachers and afew distinguished educationists and representatives of local management and stakeholders.

The composition of the IQAC may be as follows:

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1. Chairperson: Head of the Institution

2. Teachers to represent all level (Three to eight)

3. One member from the Management

4. Few Senior administrative officers

5. One nominee each from local society, Students and Alumni

6. One nominee each from Employers /Industrialists/Stakeholders

7. One of the senior teachers as the coordinator/Director of the IQAC

 

The composition of the IQAC will depend on the size and complexity of the institution, accordingly the representation of teachers may vary. It helps the institutions in planning andmonitoring. IQAC also gives stakeholders or beneficiaries a cross-sectional participation in theinstitution’s quality enhancement activities. The guidelines given here are only indicative andwill help the institutions for quality sustenance activities.

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The membership of such nominated members shall be for a period of two years. The IQACshould meet at least once in every quarter. The quorum for the meeting shall be two-third of thetotal number of members. The agenda, minutes and Action Taken Reports are to be documentedwith official signatures and maintained electronically in a retrievable format.

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It is necessary for the members of the IQAC to shoulder the responsibilities of generating andpromoting awareness in the institution and to devote time for working out the procedural details.While selecting these members several precautions need to be taken. A few of them are listedbelow:

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• It is advisable to choose persons from various backgrounds who have earned respect forintegrity and excellence in their teaching and research. Moreover, they should be awareof the ground realities of the institutional environment. They should be known for theircommitment to improving the quality of teaching and learning.

• It is advisable to change the co-ordinator after two to three years to bring new thoughtsand activities in the institution.

• It would be appropriate to choose as senior administrators, persons in charge ofinstitutional services such as library, computer center, estate, student welfare, administration, academic tasks, examination and planning and development.

• The management representative should be a person who is aware of the institution’s objectives, limitations and strengths and is committed to its improvement. The localsociety representatives should be of high social standing and should have madesignificant contributions to society and in particular to education.

 

The role of the Coordinator

The role of the coordinator of the IQAC is crucial in ensuring the effective functioning of all themembers. The coordinator of the IQAC may be a senior/competent person with experience andexposure in quality aspects. She/he may be a full-time functionary or, to start with, she/he maybe a senior academic /administrator entrusted with the IQAC as additional responsibility.Secretarial assistance may be facilitated by the administration. It is essential that the coordinatormay have sound knowledge about the computer, data management and its various functions suchas usage for effective communication.  

 

Operational Features of the IQAC

Quality assurance is a by-product of ongoing efforts to define the objectives of an institution, tohave a work plan to achieve them and to specify the checks and balances to evaluate the degreeto which each of the tasks is fulfilled. Hence devotion and commitment to improvement ratherthan mere institutional control is the basis for devising procedures and instruments for assuringquality. The right balance between the health and growth of an institution needs to be struck. TheIQAC has to ensure that whatever is done in the institution for “education” is done efficientlyand effectively with high standards. In order to do this, the IQAC will have to first establishprocedures and modalities to collect data and information on various aspects of institutional functioning.

 

The coordinator of the IQAC will have a major role in implementing these functions. The IQACmay derive major support from the already existing units and mechanisms that contribute to thefunctions listed above. The operational features and functions discussed so far are broad-based tofacilitate institutions towards academic excellence and institutions may adapt them to theirspecific needs.The Institutions are requested to submit the AQAR after one year from date of Accreditationevery year. A functional Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) and timely submission ofAnnual Quality Assurance Reports (AQARs) are the Minimum Institutional Requirements (MIR) to volunteer for second, third or subsequent cycle’s accreditation. During the institutionalvisit the NAAC peer teams will interact with the IQACs to know the progress, functioning aswell as quality sustenance initiatives undertaken by them.

 

The Annual Quality Assurance Report (AQAR) may be the part of the Annual Report. TheAQAR shall be approved by the statutory bodies of the HEIs (such as Syndicate, GoverningCouncil/Executive Council/Board of Management) for the follow up action for necessary qualityenhancement measures.

 

The IQACs may create its exclusive window tab on its institutional website for keeping therecords/files of NAAC, Peer Team Reports, AQAR, and Certificate of AccreditationOutcomes and regularly upload/ report on its activities, as well as for hosting the AQAR.

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