quality culture through iqac in hei
TRANSCRIPT
G. M. SRIRANGAM
COORDINATOR
INTERNAL QUALITY ASSURANCE CELL
ANDHRA LOYOLA COLLEGE
VIJAYAWADA
Quality Matters……“Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of intelligent effort.” ~ John Ruskin
“The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.” ~ Vince Lombardi
“The quality, not the longevity, of one's life is what is important.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
Establishment of IQAC by every accredited institution as a post-accreditation measure is the first step towards internalization and institutionalization.
Quality CultureThe term ‘culture’ encompasses not only ethnicity, butalso other dimensions of identity and the ways we liveour lives:
What is culture? Culture can be defined as ‘what wecreate beyond our biology’. Not given to us, but madeby us.
Using this definition, Quality culture incorporates thescope of diversity and innovations in ways of being of aHEI, such as in Curriculum, Teaching learning &evaluation, research, almost in every area of operationof a HEI.
IQAC: SMART GOALSThe primary aim of the IQAC is to develop system forconscious, consistent and catalytic action to improvethe academic and administrative performance of theinstitution.
IQAC is to keep the institution abreast of and abuzzwith quality sustenance activities on a wide gamut ofpertinent issues.
IQAC is to generate good practices, ideas, planning,implementing and measuring the outcome ofacademic and administrative performance of theinstitution..
IQAC Functions: Challenges and Opportunities
Fitness for the purpose
“If we all think alike, we are not thinking”
“Do we have a clear idea of the kind of HEI we want to be next 5 years? Next 10 year?
And are our quality assurance mechanisms adapted to that goal?
IQAC Functions: Challenges and Opportunities
To answer this question it is important to raise first two keyquestions:
Who are our students?
Our students today come from a variety of backgroundsand have a variety of learning needs. They differ in terms ofsocial class, educational attainment, age and goals for theireducation. This diversity needs to be embraced byinstitutions. Teachers need to be sensitive to theintellectual starting point of their students and build fromthere. We need a variety of teaching methods and teachingmaterial. We need to match the variety of learners with acorresponding variety of teachers.Thus we have to adopt, by and large, a fitness for purposeapproach.
IQAC Functions: Challenges and Opportunities
What kinds of graduates do we want for the future?
We want them to have the flexibility to adapt, to learn informal and non-formal situations – at work and in theclassrooms – to be good problem solvers and to thinkcreatively and imaginatively. A knowledge base, groundedin a discipline, is important to develop these capacities butit is not sufficient.
Above all, our graduates need to learn how to think. This ishow employers ultimately will judge them.
“If we all think alike, we are not thinking” but we all need to think well.
How often, however, does the quality assurance debatefocus on these fundamental considerations?
IQAC Functions: Challenges and Opportunities
Another challenge ahead of us is how to promote ahigher education system that is characterised by threeV’s – vibrancy, vitality, variety?
IQAC Functions: Challenges and Opportunities
If we want vibrancy, vitality and variety in ourinstitutions, should we not take steps to ensure that ourquality evaluation procedures match these aims? Shouldwe not allow for a certain degree of chaos andinterdisciplinarity to promote creativity and innovation?
If we want vibrancy, vitality and variety among ourteachers should we not consider their role globally interms of its teaching, research and service dimensionsrather than evaluate separately each aspect?
If we want vibrancy and vitality for our diverse studentpopulation, should we not take account of their globalexperience and evaluate institutions as a whole ratherthan their constituent parts?
IQAC Strategies: Institutionalize Quality initiatives
IQAC shall evolve mechanism and procedures for:
Ensuring timely, efficient and progressive performanceof academic, administrative and financial tasks.
Optimization and integration of modern methods ofteaching, learning and evaluation
Ensuring the adequacy, maintenance and functioning ofthe support structure.
to develop an internal quality culture and meetbetter the goal of having a dynamic highereducation sector
IQAC Activities: Explore New FrontiersOrganizational Arrangements in Internal QualityAssurance CellDissemination of Quality Initiatives and EndeavorsDepartmental interactions with IQAC and its impact.Research and Development CellAnnual Internal Quality Audit (Academic Audit).Training and Research Centre – EntrepreneurshipDevelopment CellInstitute – Industry Partnership CellEstablishing CollaborationsICT as Teaching-learning ProcessTapping Innovative ideas of FacultyNon-Teaching Staff Training – TQM Initiative
IQAC Activities: Explore New FrontiersRole of Parent Teacher Association (PTA) in InstitutionalQuality Enrichment
Participatory Learning
Soft Skills / Employability Skills
Mentoring / Tutor-ward System
Student Orientation Activities
Students Quality Circles
Feedback Power: A System of Multi-cornered Feedback
The Training and Placement Cell
Students as Important Stakeholders in Quality Initiative
Benefits: Change for the betterIQAC will facilitate / contribute:
To a heightened level of clarity and focus in institutionalfunctioning towards quality
enhancement and facilitate internalization of the qualityculture.
To the enhancement and integration among the variousactivities of the institution and institutionalize manygood practices
To provide a sound basis for decision-making to improveinstitutional functioning
To act as a change agent in the institution
To better internal communication
Benefits: Change for the betterIQAC will facilitate / contribute:
To a heightened level of clarity and focus in institutionalfunctioning towards quality
enhancement and facilitate internalization of the qualityculture.
To the enhancement and integration among the variousactivities of the institution and institutionalize manygood practices
To provide a sound basis for decision-making to improveinstitutional functioning
To act as a change agent in the institution
To better internal communication
Conclusion: Develop Quality CultureQuality upgradation is not a onetime phenomenon.Quest for excellence is a continuous and perennialpursuit.
IQAC Activities to internalize and institutionalizequality benchmarking.
NAAC is triggering a ‘Quality Culture’ among thevarious constituents of the HEI, as well as enhancingthe awareness of Institutional Quality Assurance withall stakeholders.
“We are what we repeatedly do; excellence then is not an act, but a habit.” ~ Aristotle
“ A Big Thanks for you patient listening”
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