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About IQAC

Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) is the first step towards internalization and institutionalization of quality enhancement initiatives. Its success depends upon the sense of belongingness and participation in all the constituents of the institution. It will not be yet another hierarchical structure or a record-keeping exercise in the institution. It will be a facilitative and participative voluntary system/unit/organ of the institution. It has the potential to become a vehicle for ushering in quality enhancement by working out planned interventionist strategies by IQAC to remove deficiencies and enhance quality like the “Quality Circles” in industries.

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.

The primary aim of IQAC is:

  • 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.

IQAC shall evolve mechanisms and procedures for:

  • 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.

The following are the roles and responsibilities carried by coordinator IQAC:

  • To coordinate the dissemination of information on various quality parameters of higher education
  • To coordinate the documentation of the various programmes / activities leading to quality improvement
  • To coordinate the quality-related activities of the institution
  • To coordinate in preparation of the Annual Quality Assurance Report (AQAR) to be submitted to NAAC based on the quality parameters.
  • To coordinate the timely and efficient execution of the decisions of IQAC committee.

Quality assurance is a by-product of ongoing efforts to define the objectives of an institution, to have a work plan to achieve them and to specify the checks and balances to evaluate the degree to which each of the tasks is fulfilled. Hence devotion and commitment to improvement rather than mere institutional control is the basis for devising procedures and instruments for assuring quality. The right balance between the health and growth of an institution needs to be struck. The IQAC has to ensure that whatever is done in the institution for “education” is done efficiently and effectively with high standards. In order to do this, the IQAC will have to first establish procedures 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 IQAC may derive major support from the already existing units and mechanisms that contribute to the functions listed above. The operational features and functions discussed so far are broad-based to facilitate institution.

Some of the functions expected of the IQAC are:

  • 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.

IQAC will facilitate / contribute to:

  • 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

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

  • Chairperson: Head of the Institution
  • Teachers to represent all level (Three to eight)
  • One member from the Management
  • Few Senior administrative officers
  • One nominee each from local society, Students and Alumni
  • One nominee each from Employers /Industrialists/Stakeholders
  • 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 and monitoring. IQAC also gives stakeholders or beneficiaries a cross-sectional participation in the institution’s quality enhancement activities. The guidelines given here are only indicative and will help the institutions for quality sustenance activities. The membership of such nominated members shall be for a period of two years. The IQAC should meet at least once in every quarter. The quorum for the meeting shall be two-third of the total number of members. The agenda, minutes and Action Taken Reports are to be documented with official signatures and maintained electronically in a retrievable format. It is necessary for the members of the IQAC to shoulder the responsibilities of generating and promoting 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 listed below:-

  • It is advisable to choose persons from various backgrounds who have earned respect for integrity and excellence in their teaching and research. Moreover, they should be aware of the ground realities of the institutional environment.
  • They should be known for their commitment to improving the quality of teaching and learning.
  • It is advisable to change the coordinator after two to three years to bring new thoughts and activities in the institution.

Academic and Administrative Audit (AAA), are very essential for the excellence in Higher Education. These are interrelated concepts. Thus in order to have a quality oriented academic, there should be a strong administrative background.

  • Academic Audit

    • Academic audit can be understood as a scientific and systematic method of reviewing the quality of academic process in the institution. It is related with the quality assurance and enhancing the quality of academic activities in HEIs.

  • Administrative Audit

    • It can be defined as a process of evaluating the efficiency and effectiveness of the administrative procedure. It includes assessment of policies, strategies & functions of the various administrative departments, control of the overall administrative system etc

Major objectives of AAA:-

  • To understand the existing system and assess the strengths and weaknesses of the Departments and Administrative Units and to suggest the methods for improvement and for overcoming the weaknesses.
  • To identify the bottlenecks in the existing administrative mechanisms and to identify the opportunities for academic reforms, administrative reforms and examination reforms etc.
  • To evaluate the optimum utilization of financial and other resources.
  • To suggest the methods for continuous improvement of quality keeping in mind criteria and reports by NAAC and other bodies

Director, IQAC
Shobhit Institute of Engineering & Technology, Meerut
(A NAAC Accredited Deemed-to-be University)
NH-58, Modipuram, Meerut - 250 110
Email: iqac.sum@shobhituniversity.ac.in
Phone: +91-9675190001

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