Quantity never really means
quality. At least, when it comes to education it is quality which often takes a
beating against the growing number of educational institutions making claims of
offering state-of-the-art infrastructure and holistic education. Quality in
Higher Education has been a matter of high concern and priority at regional,
national and international levels especially in the past ten years. In India, the National Policy on Education
1986 has very categorically questioned the impact of education and has
suggested many measures for bringing about innovative practices in education.
With higher education becoming an international service, there is a growing
concern in the world over about Quality, Standards, and Recognition. Consequent
to this trend in higher education, pursuit of “Quality” is emerging as a
universal compulsion and this has led to discussions on the application of some
of the management concepts in the education sector. Among the various points of
interest, the debate on how benchmarks are to be evolved for ensuring and
assuring quality in best practices is being continued.
Today students are members of the
digital generation. They are highly
affected by the exposure to internet technology and their approach to learning
may initiate a ‘plug’ & ‘play experience and not the traditional sequential
learning. The HODs’ and faculty also may
need to develop new pedagogy through which there are collective learning
experiences in which students work together and learn together with the faculty
member acting as a mentor.
The colleges have to develop an
attitude by which students will be treated as clients with continuously
changing needs and ambitions. Teachers
may have to work more to satisfy the wishes of the students, society than their
own personal and individual urges and impulses.
The curriculum would require constant change. In order to cope with the situation, the
university curriculum may have to be guided more by the external impulses
rather than internal impulses.
Transformation of thoughts into action and subsequently as tangible
results demand teamwork and courage to combat failures and reach the stars.
The idea of the Best Practice
evolved from a converging set of needs in higher education. Today, colleges and
universities need reliable atmosphere or ambience to foster healthy practices
among students. There is a trend of inefficient traditional management
practices in higher education. Hence, there is a need to learn and share
knowledge in new areas and identify strategic models and processes.
The
Best Practices are those that are initiated and implemented by some universities,
institutes or colleges that have proved their efficacy over a period of time
and deserved to be studied by others for the general good of the total quality
in the Higher Education system in India. Other institutes may like to adopt the
same for improvement of their systems with modification to suit their
conditions and requirements. Also this interaction may lead to future
refinement of the practices already being implemented in some institutions.
In NAAC’s scheme of assessment,
institutions are assessed for their strengths and weaknesses under seven
criteria. The analysis of the best
practices under the first six criteria revealed that the institutions that came
forward for AA have been successful in performing their roles &
responsibilities with value addition.
Rather than a routine way of taking care of the minimal requirement,
they enriched their functioning with relevance and quality. However, it is the seventh criterion viz.
Healthy Practices that brought out the institutional uniqueness and
innovativeness that might be of interest to the other institutions.
3. Objectives of the Conference:
· To enable participants to understand the
concept of ‘Best Practice’.
· To study Best
Practices in institutions across India which are situated amidst different socio-cultural, economic, political
regions and varying student social composition (caste, class, rural, urban,
cosmopolitan).
· To correlate the
Best Practices with the contextual factors i.e. socio-cultural, economic, political regions and varying student
social composition (caste, class, rural, urban, cosmopolitan).
· To analyze Best Practices for its emergency,
its limitations and its applicability.
· To disseminate these findings in the workshop. To enable each participant to think about the
applicability of the Practices in his/her own context.
·
To enable educational administrators to acquire sensitivity to their own
context and situation so that they can evolve Best Practices on their own
through debate and consensus rather than blindly replicate practices.
Therefore, it is of utmost
importance to debate critically on the concept of quality and quality
practices. We need to understand the
complexity of internal and external conditions which give rise to practices
which apparently suit the quality administration of the higher educational
institutions. In the light of these we
need to appreciate the practices that have evolved in different institutions
and consciously deliberate on the possibilities of adopting them.
5. Healthy Practices: Innovative approach to Higher
Education.
The criterion on Healthy
Practices focuses on the innovative efforts of the institutions that add to its
academic growth. An innovative practice
need not necessarily be unique in nature across board, but a pathway created to
further the interest of the student and the institution amidst
constraints. In other words, healthy
practices are contextual in nature and a practice recognized as healthy in one
institution may not necessarily be so in another institution. On analysis, it is found that most of the top
bracket institutions have been commended for at least a few of the following
aspects under the criterion on ‘Healthy Practices’.
Special programs offered by the
institution that truly reflect the institutional mission, goals and objectives.
*
Efforts of the Principal and faculty members who
strive hard with a determination to meet goals and objectives set for the
institution.
*
Innovative and job-oriented courses which help
the students in career planning.
*
The compulsory courses offered by the
institution in addition to the normal ones to enrich the student experience and
to challenge faculty and students to go beyond the syllabus.
*
The programs which students could choose
voluntarily, outside the usual syllabus and lecture hours.
*
The curriculum which embraces multidisciplinary
and interdisciplinary approaches, and which offers flexibility in response to
the diverse student needs.
*
Implementation of well defined criteria for
assessing the viability of academic programs.
*
The clear/established procedure for program
design, and its implementation.
*
The role of faculty who interact closely and
constructively with the Boards of Studies of the parent university.
*
The emphasis on value-based education.
*
The stimulating learning environment and the
value placed on teaching, strengthened by various teaching-learning initiatives
supported by faculty research.
*
The co-curricular activities and student
centered activities of the institution.
*
The high academic standards maintained in many
departments.
*
The rapport and strong tie-up with industry in
some of the departments.
*
The reasonably well-developed national and
international linkages established by some of the departments.
*
Potential of the faculty with core competence in
specific areas to handle Training and Consultancy assignments.
*
The highly talented, motivated and dedicated
faculty.
*
The recruitment of well qualified faculty who
are drawn from different parts of the country and the efforts of the
institution towards promoting it.
*
The substantial seed money set apart by the
institution to promote Research culture.
*
Emphasis on integration of research and
teaching, and the concept of the research active teacher.
*
The well stocked library with adequate number of
foreign journals, Indian Journals, media facilities, internet access, open
access system, extended library hours, photocopying facility, etc.
*
The well maintained Computer Labs and their
facilitating aspects.
*
The established procedures for eliciting
feedback from students through questionnaires and other structured formats.
*
The commitment to make the best use of student
feedback to improve academic provision and related support services for
students.
*
The creation of a supportive environment and
effective guidance procedures at all levels.
*
The optimal use of the existing infrastructure
and facilities.
*
Student involvement in meaningful voluntary
service.
*
The efforts in religious studies to foster an
understanding and appreciation of religions to contribute towards communal
harmony and national integration.
*
The various activities organized by the students
themselves where the managerial skills of the students are fully shaped and put
to test.
*
The efforts of the institution to focus on
regional and applied research on issues of social concern.
*
Efforts to maintain high student progression to
employment and further study after under-graduate level, with minimal drop-out
rate.
*
The excellent placement efforts.
*
The students involvement in publishing
magazines.
*
The commitment of the students and their
relationship with the faculty that contributes to the institution’s
cohesiveness.
*
Alumni involvement.
*
Financial aid to students and concessions to the
sports candidates.
*
The tutorial system through which a group of
students are attached to a faculty for personal and academic counselling.
*
The freedom and support provided by the
management in all activities of the institution.
*
The cordial relationship that exists between the
various constituents of the institution.
*
The trust of the faculty on students in allowing
them to participate in various programs as well as make appropriate decisions.
*
The rural development programs.
*
The professional development programs offered to
the administrative staff.
*
The effective resource mobilization of the
institution.
*
The healthy professional environment which is
conducive to bring out the best in every individual working in the institution.
*
An atmosphere of mutual trust, love and
affection that permeates in the entire campus.
*
The discipline & order, service culture and
team spirit among the members of the college.
*
Introduction of some healthy practices viz.,
à
Introduction of “on-the-job-training” projects
in the vocational courses.
à
“Legal literacy” program for students.
à
Training in “Spoken English”
*
Excellent infrastructural facilities for
curricular and extra-curricular activities.
*
Use of modern aids, audio-visual and
computer-aided approaches in teaching.
*
Excellent inter-departmental and student-teacher
interactions.
*
Well-appreciated extension activities and social
work through National Service Scheme, NCC and by interaction with local NGOs.
*
Importance given to project work, seminars and
field work in the curriculum.
*
Establishment of linkages with ex-students,
local public, industrial and commercial institutions.
*
Effective teachers’ participation in
co-curricular, extra curricular, social and cultural activities and extension
activities.
*
Receptive and effective administration.
*
Compulsory student participation in any of the
three programs – NSS, NCC and Sports, which encourages team work and group
experience.
*
Practice of yoga, meditation and classes on
moral instruction which are helpful for the full development of the
personality.
*
Various scholarships and stipends available to
the students.
*
Enrichment courses for students so as to enable
them to acquire competence/skills in areas beyond those covered in the
curriculum should help the students in finding employment and create
self-confidence.
*
Recognition given to the important role played
by the non-teaching staff in academic life.
*
The social commitment of the management to make
an impact on the quality of life of the people living in rural areas
surrounding the college through value education of women.
*
Interaction with villages around thereby helping
rural women in many ways.
*
Orientation/training for newly inducted staff
members, class representatives and new students.
*
Class-wise cultural activities roping in all
students in some activity or the other.
*
Media center to produce Educational Programs.
*
Outstanding record in sports and games in
University, Inter-Collegiate tournaments, Inter University meets, State,
National and International level events.
*
Welfare programs and adequate institutional
support structure for student progression and development.
*
Women’s empowerment cell, youth red cross unit,
fine arts club, and the four wings of NCC and NSS that are active.
*
The breadth and depth of its means of internal
communication.
*
Establishment of an effective IQAC and its
efforts to support its quality assurance and enhancement process.
*
The constructive relationship between IQAC and
the departments.
As one could see, the above list
presents both the products as well as processes. Instead of debating on products vs processes,
NAAC teams believed in balancing both.
In fact, in the first cycle of assessment, NAAC had to accept many
informal practices in view of the desired outcomes they had made in the
system. Although many institutions
reported that they did not have certain formal mechanisms, they insisted that
the expected outcomes were being achieved informally. For example, student feedback, career
counselling, skill development of students etc. were areas where one could find
four major lacunae: 1) Many institutions did not have formal mechanisms in
place. 2) Those who claimed to have formal mechanisms had initiated them very
recently. 3) Documentation and support structure for those mechanisms were not
adequate. 4) Even in cases where such
mechanisms existed, efforts and evidence towards demonstrating the effectiveness
of such mechanisms were absent.
However, in an effort to
contextualise assessment and promote best practices, the assessment teams had
not taken a penalising stand on those issues.
The very existence of such mechanisms – formally or informally – was
taken as a best practice. At the same
time, it is reasonable to expect that during re-accreditation the institution
would be able to demonstrate that these drawbacks had been set right. For all those hurriedly initiated mechanisms,
the institutions have to demonstrate how effectively they are being
sustained. In addition, they have to act
on the recommendations given in the assessment report for further growth and
development.
6. Quality Enhancement
Strategies:
The assessment report has a
separate section on Commendations and Suggestions where- in the team very
clearly spells out the commendable aspects of the institution and also records
the suggestions, which the institution may consider for its future development. This has led to a long list of suggestions to
highly rated institutions. An analysis
was done for the highly rated institutions with reference to one question: What
are the suggestions given to these institutions for their future development? The outcome is expected to a point of reference
for institutions that would like to initiate further quality enhancement
strategies. The following list is the
compilation of some of those suggestions:
· The institution needs to interact with the
other institutions, industries and the society at large by drawing visiting
faculty from among them for special lectures.
Illustrations alumni and other members of the society may be invited to
deliver lectures on areas of their respective specialization. The industry-institution
linkage needs to be strengthened from the point of view of student placements
and projects.
· Even though the institution is providing
good education in liberal arts and pure science, there is a need to deliver
newer courses with larger job potentials on computers, information technology
and such other courses. More post
graduate programs and skill oriented certificate courses need to be introduced
in a phased manner.
· There is ample scope for more widespread use
of educational technology and multi-media facilities including Computer Aided
Learning packages in the teaching-learning process.
· A handbook containing all the details for
the curriculum along with the learning objectives with proper unitization
including the references may be prepared for each course/program.
· The institution needs to introduce many
remedial approaches to enable the under privileged students to compete with the
rest of the students. It is imperative
to adopt several programs in the form of compensatory education, as an urgent
step.
· The institution should also plan for
introducing programs especially for the advantage of those students who are
involved in competitive examination preparation.
· A sizeable number of teachers are engaged in
research and teaching but it is noted with surprise that the teachers do not
utilize the facilities available at the other research centers in the
neighbourhood inspite of their close proximity.
The institution - neighbourhood linkage may be strengthened.
· Many more teachers should submit relevant
proposals in their respective fields to various funding agencies at the
national level and avail UGC-Schemes for Research and other outside plan
allocations from the UGC as well as other national funding agencies.
· Research can also be promoted at the
undergraduate level by giving meaningful problems for project work.
· The research culture that is evident in some
departments needs to be spread further to other departments.
· Keeping in view the future development of
the institution the peer team feels that the management may consider financial
incentives to the teachers who are actively involved in research.
· The peer group understands the reason for
lack of consultancy in many institutions.
However, in the present context every educational institution has to
relate itself to the community.
Therefore, it is desirable to take up consultancy with all
earnestness. The institution could offer
consultancy and testing services on a commercial basis, without prejudice to
its own academic and research activities.
· The in-house areas of expertise may be
subtly advertised through regular admission and placement brochures.
· Some concession in the workload may be given
to those faculty members who are active in research and consultancy.
· The institution may explore ways through which
academic staff on temporary and part-time appointments may be encouraged to
play a full part in maintaining and enhancing the quality of teaching and
learning and ensuring that appropriate training is available to part-time and
temporary staff, and monitoring the quality of education provided by these
categories of staff.
· Conducting
periodic seminars and workshops with particular emphasis on modern
teaching and evaluation techniques needs to be considered for faculty
development.
· A formal mechanism may be developed to
obtain feedback from academic peers about the curriculum enrichment that is
required.
· Areas where feedback is crucial must be
identified and a scientific mechanism be evolved for gathering information from
students, teachers and employees on those areas.
· A formal mechanism for evaluating the
faculty performance on the dimensions of teaching, research, consultancy and
administrative work, other than the self-appraisal mechanism, may be
implemented.
· The student support and progression would be
greatly helped if there is a student feedback system on the various aspects of
their educational experience.
· Though from the point of view of the
absolute numbers, the library books appears to be satisfactory, there seems to
be not too many new additions to the library.
Subscription to the journals needs to be increased.
· It would be worthwhile to extend library
timings and to keep it open even on Sundays and holidays. The library needs to have inter-library
borrowing facilities and access to Internet.
· Automation of library and procurement of
latest books of high standard need to be given priority.
· The existing internet facilities may be
enhanced.
· Many of the laboratories need to be further
augmented with more modern equipment.
· Though the sports facilities are adequate,
participation could be increased.
· The institution has to create adequate
support structure for the progression of the students. There is a need to introduce various
enrichment programs for the preparation of the students to competitive
examinations on priority basis. The
institution should institute a student placement cell in view of its increasing
importance to provide timely career guidance and counselling.
· The institution may develop a Computerized
Students Information System (CSIS)
· It would be a good idea to establish a
well-equipped non-resident students center for the benefit of day scholars.
· No adequate record of student progression to
employment or further studies is maintained by the institution. This, as an institutional obligation, may be
pursued.
· It is necessary to build up a reliable
database to ensure effective and efficient administration of the institution.
· Administration of the institution needs to
be more decentralized. Representatives of
R&D organizations, industry, business and service sectors could perhaps be
included in the Governing Body and other academic and administrative bodies of
the institution.
· It is considered necessary to devise a
program of action to train all technical staff on a time-bound basis with a
view to updating them.
· The alumni association could be activated to
involve it more deeply in the various academic and developmental programs of
the institution.
· The institution should consider undertaking
more effective measures to mobilize additional resources.
· The peer committee recommends a well-thought
of redressal mechanism to examine the grievances of different sections of the
institution to raise the level of their confidence.
· A Ten Year Perspective Strategic Plan
may be developed by the institution.
· The institution may explore ways on
encouraging wider dissemination and appropriate use of the examples of good
practice already in place in the departments and faculties.
· It needs to strengthen its capacity to
ensure that the academic standards of its collaborating institutions are
satisfactory, to offer appropriate job training to the students.
· Constitution of an Internal Quality
Assurance Cell (IQAC) may be seriously thought of.
.
7. Conclusion:
There may be lot of overlaps in
the two lists given above. The
institutions will have to look at these aspects and choose the ones that will
work well in their context. Around 100 assessment reports are available in the
NAAC website (www.naac-india.com). Institutions may browse these reports to
identify the best practices that will be of use to them, keeping in mind what
works in one context need not be so in another institution. Trend setting in the field of education is a
difficult task, since most of the best practices are not described well
possibly because it could not be done.
This paper has made an attempt to document where the highly commended
institutions stand with reference to some of the best practices. The outcome is expected to be a point of
reference for institutions that would like to become more efficient with
reference to NAAC’s criteria
The new era has ushered in a
boom of hi-tech educational resources to keep pace with information revolution.
The new century has brought in a lot of challenges confronting higher
education. Twenty first century society is a knowledge society. In this age of
knowledge it is the intellectual capital, trained manpower rather than
financial and physical capital, which will give the society strength and
prosperity. When knowledge and educated people become important strategic
resources for development the society has to become more dependent upon those
institutions namely, our universities, colleges and higher education institutions
that are responsible for creating these critical resources. However, there is
always a question about the capacity of our universities to meet the challenges
of the growing social and technological needs. The quest will continue. And our
response would be to evolve the best practices that could be implemented in our
own respective colleges.
Notes and References:
1. Antony Stella & A.
Gnanam. Assuring Quality and Standards in Higher Education: The Contemporary
Context and Concerns (New Delhi: Allied Publisher (P) Ltd., 2002).
2. Dr. Antony Stella. “Best Practices: A
Perspective from the NAAC”. (Bangalore: NAAC). (Much of the above reflections
and suggestions are from the above mentio- ned paper presented by Dr. Antony
Stella, at the workshop for College Principals at Christ College, Bangalore)
3. Fr. George Palackapilly, SDB
& Ms. Nita Burman, ed. Proceedings of the National Consultation on
Education (Bangalore: Kristu Jyoti College, 1999).
4. Mani Jacob, et. al., eds. Resource
Book for Value Education (New Delhi: Institute of Value Education, 2002).
5. Nirmala Jeyaraj, ed. Higher Education:
Vision and Mission for Twenty–First Century (Madurai: Lady Doak College,
1998).
6. N. K. Uberoi, ed. Professional
Competency in Higher Education (Delhi: University of Delhi, 1996).
7. Swami Chinmayananda. The
Art of Man Making (Mumbai: Central Chinmaya
Mission Trust, 2000).
8. Best Practices in
Administration of Higher Educational Institutions in India, A Study Report,
Christ College, 2002. (Much of the above reflections and suggestions are from
the National Workshop for College Principals, organized by Christ College, Bangalore).
-
Dr. Fr. Davis
George, Principal, St. Aloysius College, Jabalpur 482001
1 Introduction: Quality is the buzzword
Quantity never really means
quality. At least, when it comes to education it is quality which often takes a
beating against the growing number of educational institutions making claims of
offering state-of-the-art infrastructure and holistic education. Quality in
Higher Education has been a matter of high concern and priority at regional,
national and international levels especially in the past ten years. In India, the National Policy on Education
1986 has very categorically questioned the impact of education and has
suggested many measures for bringing about innovative practices in education.
With higher education becoming an international service, there is a growing
concern in the world over about Quality, Standards, and Recognition. Consequent
to this trend in higher education, pursuit of “Quality” is emerging as a
universal compulsion and this has led to discussions on the application of some
of the management concepts in the education sector. Among the various points of
interest, the debate on how benchmarks are to be evolved for ensuring and
assuring quality in best practices is being continued.
Today students are members of the
digital generation. They are highly
affected by the exposure to internet technology and their approach to learning
may initiate a ‘plug’ & ‘play experience and not the traditional sequential
learning. The HODs’ and faculty also may
need to develop new pedagogy through which there are collective learning
experiences in which students work together and learn together with the faculty
member acting as a mentor.
The colleges have to develop an
attitude by which students will be treated as clients with continuously
changing needs and ambitions. Teachers
may have to work more to satisfy the wishes of the students, society than their
own personal and individual urges and impulses.
The curriculum would require constant change. In order to cope with the situation, the
university curriculum may have to be guided more by the external impulses
rather than internal impulses.
Transformation of thoughts into action and subsequently as tangible
results demand teamwork and courage to combat failures and reach the stars.
The idea of the Best Practice
evolved from a converging set of needs in higher education. Today, colleges and
universities need reliable atmosphere or ambience to foster healthy practices
among students. There is a trend of inefficient traditional management
practices in higher education. Hence, there is a need to learn and share
knowledge in new areas and identify strategic models and processes.
The
Best Practices are those that are initiated and implemented by some
universities, institutes or colleges that have proved their efficacy over a
period of time and deserved to be studied by others for the general good of the
total quality in the Higher Education system in India. Other institutes may
like to adopt the same for improvement of their systems with modification to suit
their conditions and requirements. Also this interaction may lead to future
refinement of the practices already being implemented in some institutions.
In NAAC’s scheme of assessment,
institutions are assessed for their strengths and weaknesses under seven
criteria. The analysis of the best
practices under the first six criteria revealed that the institutions that came
forward for AA have been successful in performing their roles &
responsibilities with value addition.
Rather than a routine way of taking care of the minimal requirement,
they enriched their functioning with relevance and quality. However, it is the seventh criterion viz.
Healthy Practices that brought out the institutional uniqueness and innovativeness
that might be of interest to the other institutions.
2. Goal of the
session on Best Practices:
To enable Administrators of
Higher Education to evolve Best Practices which will suit their own contexts.
The goal of the workshop is to engage in an understanding and collective
evaluation of Best Practices, to consolidate the strengths and suggest ways and
means to overcome obstacles, share and learn from each other’s experience and
adapt these best practices, suitable to the context of a particular
institution.
3. Objectives of the Conference:
· To enable participants to understand the
concept of ‘Best Practice’.
· To study Best
Practices in institutions across India which are situated amidst different socio-cultural, economic, political
regions and varying student social composition (caste, class, rural, urban,
cosmopolitan).
· To correlate the
Best Practices with the contextual factors i.e. socio-cultural, economic, political regions and varying student
social composition (caste, class, rural, urban, cosmopolitan).
· To analyze Best Practices for its emergency,
its limitations and its applicability.
· To disseminate these findings in the workshop. To enable each participant to think about the
applicability of the Practices in his/her own context.
·
To enable educational administrators to acquire sensitivity to their own
context and situation so that they can evolve Best Practices on their own
through debate and consensus rather than blindly replicate practices.
Therefore, it is of utmost
importance to debate critically on the concept of quality and quality
practices. We need to understand the
complexity of internal and external conditions which give rise to practices
which apparently suit the quality administration of the higher educational
institutions. In the light of these we
need to appreciate the practices that have evolved in different institutions
and consciously deliberate on the possibilities of adopting them.
4. Dynamics of the session:
The dynamics of the workshop is
participatory and evolution oriented, banking on the experience and expertise
of everyone gathered here. The expert
view of resource persons is aimed at generating thought and reflection on the
key concepts of Best Practices. The
resource persons will also respond to the views, opinions, ideas and concerns
from the participants.
5. Healthy Practices: Innovative approach to Higher
Education.
The criterion on Healthy
Practices focuses on the innovative efforts of the institutions that add to its
academic growth. An innovative practice
need not necessarily be unique in nature across board, but a pathway created to
further the interest of the student and the institution amidst
constraints. In other words, healthy
practices are contextual in nature and a practice recognized as healthy in one
institution may not necessarily be so in another institution. On analysis, it is found that most of the top
bracket institutions have been commended for at least a few of the following
aspects under the criterion on ‘Healthy Practices’.
Special programs offered by the
institution that truly reflect the institutional mission, goals and objectives.
*
Efforts of the Principal and faculty members who
strive hard with a determination to meet goals and objectives set for the
institution.
*
Innovative and job-oriented courses which help
the students in career planning.
*
The compulsory courses offered by the
institution in addition to the normal ones to enrich the student experience and
to challenge faculty and students to go beyond the syllabus.
*
The programs which students could choose
voluntarily, outside the usual syllabus and lecture hours.
*
The curriculum which embraces multidisciplinary
and interdisciplinary approaches, and which offers flexibility in response to
the diverse student needs.
*
Implementation of well defined criteria for
assessing the viability of academic programs.
*
The clear/established procedure for program
design, and its implementation.
*
The role of faculty who interact closely and
constructively with the Boards of Studies of the parent university.
*
The emphasis on value-based education.
*
The stimulating learning environment and the
value placed on teaching, strengthened by various teaching-learning initiatives
supported by faculty research.
*
The co-curricular activities and student
centered activities of the institution.
*
The high academic standards maintained in many
departments.
*
The rapport and strong tie-up with industry in
some of the departments.
*
The reasonably well-developed national and
international linkages established by some of the departments.
*
Potential of the faculty with core competence in
specific areas to handle Training and Consultancy assignments.
*
The highly talented, motivated and dedicated
faculty.
*
The recruitment of well qualified faculty who
are drawn from different parts of the country and the efforts of the
institution towards promoting it.
*
The substantial seed money set apart by the
institution to promote Research culture.
*
Emphasis on integration of research and
teaching, and the concept of the research active teacher.
*
The well stocked library with adequate number of
foreign journals, Indian Journals, media facilities, internet access, open
access system, extended library hours, photocopying facility, etc.
*
The well maintained Computer Labs and their
facilitating aspects.
*
The established procedures for eliciting
feedback from students through questionnaires and other structured formats.
*
The commitment to make the best use of student
feedback to improve academic provision and related support services for
students.
*
The creation of a supportive environment and
effective guidance procedures at all levels.
*
The optimal use of the existing infrastructure
and facilities.
*
Student involvement in meaningful voluntary
service.
*
The efforts in religious studies to foster an
understanding and appreciation of religions to contribute towards communal
harmony and national integration.
*
The various activities organized by the students
themselves where the managerial skills of the students are fully shaped and put
to test.
*
The efforts of the institution to focus on
regional and applied research on issues of social concern.
*
Efforts to maintain high student progression to
employment and further study after under-graduate level, with minimal drop-out
rate.
*
The excellent placement efforts.
*
The students involvement in publishing
magazines.
*
The commitment of the students and their
relationship with the faculty that contributes to the institution’s
cohesiveness.
*
Alumni involvement.
*
Financial aid to students and concessions to the
sports candidates.
*
The tutorial system through which a group of
students are attached to a faculty for personal and academic counselling.
*
The freedom and support provided by the
management in all activities of the institution.
*
The cordial relationship that exists between the
various constituents of the institution.
*
The trust of the faculty on students in allowing
them to participate in various programs as well as make appropriate decisions.
*
The rural development programs.
*
The professional development programs offered to
the administrative staff.
*
The effective resource mobilization of the
institution.
*
The healthy professional environment which is
conducive to bring out the best in every individual working in the institution.
*
An atmosphere of mutual trust, love and
affection that permeates in the entire campus.
*
The discipline & order, service culture and
team spirit among the members of the college.
*
Introduction of some healthy practices viz.,
à
Introduction of “on-the-job-training” projects
in the vocational courses.
à
“Legal literacy” program for students.
à
Training in “Spoken English”
*
Excellent infrastructural facilities for
curricular and extra-curricular activities.
*
Use of modern aids, audio-visual and
computer-aided approaches in teaching.
*
Excellent inter-departmental and student-teacher
interactions.
*
Well-appreciated extension activities and social
work through National Service Scheme, NCC and by interaction with local NGOs.
*
Importance given to project work, seminars and
field work in the curriculum.
*
Establishment of linkages with ex-students,
local public, industrial and commercial institutions.
*
Effective teachers’ participation in
co-curricular, extra curricular, social and cultural activities and extension
activities.
*
Receptive and effective administration.
*
Compulsory student participation in any of the
three programs – NSS, NCC and Sports, which encourages team work and group
experience.
*
Practice of yoga, meditation and classes on
moral instruction which are helpful for the full development of the
personality.
*
Various scholarships and stipends available to
the students.
*
Enrichment courses for students so as to enable
them to acquire competence/skills in areas beyond those covered in the
curriculum should help the students in finding employment and create
self-confidence.
*
Recognition given to the important role played
by the non-teaching staff in academic life.
*
The social commitment of the management to make
an impact on the quality of life of the people living in rural areas
surrounding the college through value education of women.
*
Interaction with villages around thereby helping
rural women in many ways.
*
Orientation/training for newly inducted staff
members, class representatives and new students.
*
Class-wise cultural activities roping in all
students in some activity or the other.
*
Media center to produce Educational Programs.
*
Outstanding record in sports and games in
University, Inter-Collegiate tournaments, Inter University meets, State,
National and International level events.
*
Welfare programs and adequate institutional
support structure for student progression and development.
*
Women’s empowerment cell, youth red cross unit,
fine arts club, and the four wings of NCC and NSS that are active.
*
The breadth and depth of its means of internal
communication.
*
Establishment of an effective IQAC and its
efforts to support its quality assurance and enhancement process.
*
The constructive relationship between IQAC and
the departments.
As one could see, the above list
presents both the products as well as processes. Instead of debating on products vs processes,
NAAC teams believed in balancing both.
In fact, in the first cycle of assessment, NAAC had to accept many
informal practices in view of the desired outcomes they had made in the
system. Although many institutions
reported that they did not have certain formal mechanisms, they insisted that
the expected outcomes were being achieved informally. For example, student feedback, career
counselling, skill development of students etc. were areas where one could find
four major lacunae: 1) Many institutions did not have formal mechanisms in
place. 2) Those who claimed to have formal mechanisms had initiated them very
recently. 3) Documentation and support structure for those mechanisms were not
adequate. 4) Even in cases where such
mechanisms existed, efforts and evidence towards demonstrating the
effectiveness of such mechanisms were absent.
However, in an effort to
contextualise assessment and promote best practices, the assessment teams had
not taken a penalising stand on those issues.
The very existence of such mechanisms – formally or informally – was
taken as a best practice. At the same
time, it is reasonable to expect that during re-accreditation the institution
would be able to demonstrate that these drawbacks had been set right. For all those hurriedly initiated mechanisms,
the institutions have to demonstrate how effectively they are being
sustained. In addition, they have to act
on the recommendations given in the assessment report for further growth and
development.
6. Quality Enhancement
Strategies:
The assessment report has a
separate section on Commendations and Suggestions where- in the team very
clearly spells out the commendable aspects of the institution and also records
the suggestions which the institution may consider for its future development. This has led to a long list of suggestions to
highly rated institutions. An analysis
was done for the highly rated institutions with reference to one question: What
are the suggestions given to these institutions for their future development? The outcome is expected to a point of
reference for institutions that would like to initiate further quality
enhancement strategies. The following
list is the compilation of some of those suggestions:
· The institution needs to interact with the
other institutions, industries and the society at large by drawing visiting
faculty from among them for special lectures.
Illustrations alumni and other members of the society may be invited to
deliver lectures on areas of their respective specialization. The industry-institution
linkage needs to be strengthened from the point of view of student placements
and projects.
· Even though the institution is providing
good education in liberal arts and pure science, there is a need to deliver
newer courses with larger job potentials on computers, information technology
and such other courses. More post
graduate programs and skill oriented certificate courses need to be introduced
in a phased manner.
· There is ample scope for more widespread use
of educational technology and multi-media facilities including Computer Aided
Learning packages in the teaching-learning process.
· A handbook containing all the details for
the curriculum along with the learning objectives with proper unitization
including the references may be prepared for each course/program.
· The institution needs to introduce many
remedial approaches to enable the under privileged students to compete with the
rest of the students. It is imperative
to adopt several programs in the form of compensatory education, as an urgent
step.
· The institution should also plan for
introducing programs especially for the advantage of those students who are
involved in competitive examination preparation.
· A sizeable number of teachers are engaged in
research and teaching but it is noted with surprise that the teachers do not
utilize the facilities available at the other research centers in the
neighbourhood inspite of their close proximity.
The institution - neighbourhood linkage may be strengthened.
· Many more teachers should submit relevant
proposals in their respective fields to various funding agencies at the
national level and avail UGC-Schemes for Research and other outside plan
allocations from the UGC as well as other national funding agencies.
· Research can also be promoted at the
undergraduate level by giving meaningful problems for project work.
· The research culture that is evident in some
departments needs to be spread further to other departments.
· Keeping in view the future development of
the institution the peer team feels that the management may consider financial
incentives to the teachers who are actively involved in research.
· The peer group understands the reason for
lack of consultancy in many institutions.
However, in the present context every educational institution has to
relate itself to the community.
Therefore, it is desirable to take up consultancy with all
earnestness. The institution could offer
consultancy and testing services on a commercial basis, without prejudice to
its own academic and research activities.
· The in-house areas of expertise may be
subtly advertised through regular admission and placement brochures.
· Some concession in the workload may be given
to those faculty members who are active in research and consultancy.
· The institution may explore ways through
which academic staff on temporary and part-time appointments may be encouraged
to play a full part in maintaining and enhancing the quality of teaching and
learning and ensuring that appropriate training is available to part-time and
temporary staff, and monitoring the quality of education provided by these
categories of staff.
· Conducting
periodic seminars and workshops with particular emphasis on modern
teaching and evaluation techniques needs to be considered for faculty
development.
· A formal mechanism may be developed to
obtain feedback from academic peers about the curriculum enrichment that is
required.
· Areas where feedback is crucial must be
identified and a scientific mechanism be evolved for gathering information from
students, teachers and employees on those areas.
· A formal mechanism for evaluating the
faculty performance on the dimensions of teaching, research, consultancy and
administrative work, other than the self-appraisal mechanism, may be
implemented.
· The student support and progression would be
greatly helped if there is a student feedback system on the various aspects of
their educational experience.
· Though from the point of view of the
absolute numbers, the library books appears to be satisfactory, there seems to
be not too many new additions to the library.
Subscription to the journals needs to be increased.
· It would be worthwhile to extend library
timings and to keep it open even on Sundays and holidays. The library needs to have inter-library
borrowing facilities and access to Internet.
· Automation of library and procurement of
latest books of high standard need to be given priority.
· The existing internet facilities may be
enhanced.
· Many of the laboratories need to be further
augmented with more modern equipment.
· Though the sports facilities are adequate,
participation could be increased.
· The institution has to create adequate
support structure for the progression of the students. There is a need to introduce various
enrichment programs for the preparation of the students to competitive
examinations on priority basis. The
institution should institute a student placement cell in view of its increasing
importance to provide timely career guidance and counselling.
· The institution may develop a Computerized
Students Information System (CSIS)
· It would be a good idea to establish a
well-equipped non-resident students center for the benefit of day scholars.
· No adequate record of student progression to
employment or further studies is maintained by the institution. This, as an institutional obligation, may be
pursued.
· It is necessary to build up a reliable
database to ensure effective and efficient administration of the institution.
· Administration of the institution needs to
be more decentralized. Representatives
of R&D organizations, industry, business and service sectors could perhaps
be included in the Governing Body and other academic and administrative bodies
of the institution.
· It is considered necessary to devise a
program of action to train all technical staff on a time-bound basis with a
view to updating them.
· The alumni association could be activated to
involve it more deeply in the various academic and developmental programs of
the institution.
· The institution should consider undertaking
more effective measures to mobilize additional resources.
· The peer committee recommends a well-thought
of redressal mechanism to examine the grievances of different sections of the
institution to raise the level of their confidence.
· A Ten Year Perspective Strategic Plan
may be developed by the institution.
· The institution may explore ways on
encouraging wider dissemination and appropriate use of the examples of good
practice already in place in the departments and faculties.
· It needs to strengthen its capacity to
ensure that the academic standards of its collaborating institutions are
satisfactory, to offer appropriate job training to the students.
· Constitution of an Internal Quality
Assurance Cell (IQAC) may be seriously thought of.
.
7. Conclusion:
There may be lot of overlaps in
the two lists given above. The
institutions will have to look at these aspects and choose the ones that will
work well in their context. Around 100 assessment reports are available in the
NAAC website (www.naac-india.com). Institutions may browse these reports to
identify the best practices that will be of use to them, keeping in mind what
works in one context need not be so in another institution. Trend setting in the field of education is a
difficult task, since most of the best practices are not described well
possibly because it could not be done.
This paper has made an attempt to document where the highly commended
institutions stand with reference to some of the best practices. The outcome is expected to be a point of
reference for institutions that would like to become more efficient with
reference to NAAC’s criteria
The new era has ushered in a
boom of hi-tech educational resources to keep pace with information revolution.
The new century has brought in a lot of challenges confronting higher
education. Twenty first century society is a knowledge society. In this age of
knowledge it is the intellectual capital, trained manpower rather than financial
and physical capital, which will give the society strength and prosperity. When
knowledge and educated people become important strategic resources for
development the society has to become more dependent upon those institutions
namely, our universities, colleges and higher education institutions that are
responsible for creating these critical resources. However, there is always a
question about the capacity of our universities to meet the challenges of the
growing social and technological needs. The quest will continue. And our
response would be to evolve the best practices that could be implemented in our
own respective colleges.
Notes and References:
1. Antony Stella & A.
Gnanam. Assuring Quality and Standards in Higher Education: The Contemporary
Context and Concerns (New Delhi : Allied Publisher (P) Ltd., 2002).
2. Dr. Antony Stella. “Best Practices: A
Perspective from the NAAC”. (Bangalore: NAAC).( Much of the above reflections
and suggestions are from the above mentio- ned paper presented by Dr. Antony
Stella, at the workshop for College Principals at Christ College, Bangalore)
3. Fr. George Palackapilly, SDB
& Ms. Nita Burman, ed. Proceedings of the National Consultation on
Education (Bangalore: Kristu Jyoti College, 1999).
4. Mani Jacob, et. al., eds. Resource
Book for Value Education (New Delhi: Institute of Value Education, 2002).
5. Nirmala Jeyaraj, ed. Higher
Education: Vision and Mission for Twenty – First Century (Madurai: Lady
Doak College, 1998).
6. N. K. Uberoi, ed. Professional
Competency in Higher Education (Delhi: University of Delhi, 1996).
7. Swami
Chinmayananda. The Art of Man Making (Mumbai: Central Chinmaya Mission
Trust, 2000).
8. Best Practices in Administration of Higher
Educational Institutions in India,
A Study Report, Christ
College, 2002. ( Much of the above reflections and suggestions are from the National Workshop
for College Principals, organized by
Christ College, Bangalore)
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