IQAC: An Introduction
The University Grants Commission (UGC), India, in the XI Plan has made a policy decision to direct all Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) to establish Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) and to provide seed financial assistance for the same. It has also issued guidelines for the establishment and monitoring of IQACs. Maintaining the momentum of quality consciousness is crucial in Colleges. Internal Quality Assurance Cell, in fact, is conceived as a mechanism to build and ensure a quality culture at the institutional level. Every College should have an internal quality assurance system, with appropriate structure and processes, and with enough flexibility to meet the diverse needs of the stakeholders. The internal quality assurance mechanism of the institution may be called “Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC)”. The IQAC is meant for planning, guiding and monitoring Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Enhancement (QE) activities of the colleges.
Structure and Composition of IQAC
According to the UGC Guidelines, the IQAC shall be constituted under the chairmanship of the head of the HEI. He/She may be assisted by a Director (in case of a university) or a Coordinator (in case of a college) who shall be a senior faculty member. This position may be held as an additional charge by the faculty member concerned, or a new position of a full-time Director/Coordinator may be created and a person is selected and appointed or a senior faculty member is posted by redeployment. The IQAC shall have the following composition:
a) Principal – Chairperson
b) Five senior teachers and one senior administrative official – Members
c) Two external experts on Quality Management/Industry/Local Community – Members
d) Director / Coordinator – Member Secretary.
(The members at b) and c) of the above shall be nominated by the Principal of the College in consultation with the academic body of the College (Academic Committee of a College).
The membership of such nominated members shall be for a period of two years. The IQAC should meet at least once in a 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
Functions of IQAC
The IQAC shall have the following functions:
- Development and application of quality benchmarks/parameters for the various academic and administrative activities of the College.
- Facilitating the creation of a learner-centric environment conducive for quality education and faculty maturation to adopt the required knowledge and technology for participatory teaching and learning process.
- Arrangement for feedback responses from students, parents and other stakeholders on quality related institutional processes.
- Dissemination of information on the various quality parameters of higher education.
- Organization of inter and intra institutional workshops, seminars on quality related themes and promotion of quality circles.
- Documentation of the various programmes/activities of the College, leading to quality improvement.
- Acting as a nodal agency of the college for coordinating quality-related activities, including adoption and dissemination of good practices.
- Development and maintenance of institutional database through MIS for the purpose of maintaining / enhancing the institutional quality
- Development of the Annual Quality Assurance Report (AQAR) of the College based on the quality parameters/assessment criteria developed by the relevant quality assurance body (like NAAC, NBA) in the prescribed format
- Bi-annual development of Quality Radars (QRs) and Ranking of Integral Units of College based on the AQAR.
- Interaction with SQACs in the pre and post accreditation quality assessment, sustenance and enhancement endeavours.
List of members of IQAC
- Dr. P. R. Sreemahadevan Pillai, Chairman
- Dr. Krishna Kumar Kishor
- Dr. G. Muruganath, IQAC Coordinator
- Prof. Kripa M, HOD CE
- Dr. S. Gunasekaran, HOD CSE
- Dr. V. Balamurugan, HOD ECE
- Prof. D. Prakash, HOD ME
- Dr. Binoy Balan K., HOD S & H
- Dr. Mahima Ganesan, AP CE
- Mr. Roshan Shanu Y., AP CSE
- Ms. Swetha C, AP ECE
- Mr. Manickavsagam A., AP EEE
- Mr. Dheeraj P., AP ME
- Ms. Sangeetha P. S., AP S&H
- Mr. T. R. Sreenivasan, AO
- Mr. Lal, Librarian
- Mr. Abhijit V, TPO