In pursuance of its action plan for performance evaluation, assessment and accreditation and quality upgradation of institutions of higher education, the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), Bengaluru proposes that every accredited institution should establish an Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) as a quality sustenance measure. Since quality enhancement is a continuous process, the IQAC will become a vital part of the institution’s quality assurance system and work towards ensuring 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 its institution. For this, during the post-accreditation period, institutions need to channelize their efforts towards promoting holistic academic excellence including the implementation of peer team’s recommendations. The guidelines provided in the following pages will facilitate the institution in the creation and operation of the IQAC.The establishment of the IQAC is the first step towards institutionalization and internalization of quality enhancement initiatives. Its success depends on its sense of belongingness and participation in all the activities of the institution. It will not be yet another hierarchical structure or a record-keeping unit of the institution but will be a facilitative and participative unit of the institution. It has the potential to become a vehicle for ushering in quality enhancement through its planned and interventionist strategies to remove deficiencies and enhance quality, as in Quality Circles in industries.
The IQAC should be constituted in every institution under the chairpersonship of the Head of the Institution with heads of key academic and administrative units and a few teachers and a few distinguished educationists and representatives of the local management and stakeholders as members. The composition of the IQAC should be as follows:
The composition of the IQAC will depend on the size and complexity of the institution and accordingly the representation of teachers may vary. The IQAC helps the institution in planning and monitoring quality-related activities. It ensures the various stakeholders’ and beneficiaries’ cross-sectional participation in the institution’s quality-enhancement activities. The guidelines given here are only indicative and will help the institutions in their quality-sustenance activities.The membership of the 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-thirds of the total number of members. The Agenda, Minutes and Action Taken Reports are to be documented and maintained electronically in a retrievable format.
While selecting these members, several precautions need to be taken. A few of them are listed below:
The role of the Coordinator of the IQAC is crucial in ensuring the effective functioning of all the members. The IQAC Coordinator may be a senior and competent person with rich experience and exposure to quality aspects. He/She may be a full-time functionary or a senior academician/administrator entrusted with additional responsibility as the IQAC Coordinator. Secretarial assistance should be ensured by the administration. It is essential that the coordinator has a sound knowledge of computers and data management.
Quality assurance is a by-product of the ongoing efforts of an institution to define its objectives and chalk out a work plan to achieve them and also 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 IQAC has to ensure that whatever is done in the institution for higher education is done efficiently and effectively. In order to do this, the IQAC will have to first establish procedures and modalities to collect data and information on the various aspects of the functioning of the institution. The IQAC Coordinator has a major role in implementing these functions. The IQAC may derive support from the already existing units and mechanism that contribute to the functions listed above.
Institutions are requested to submit the AQAR every year and the submission should start after one year from the date of accreditation. A functional IQAC and timely submission of the AQAR are the minimum institutional requirements to go in for the second, third and subsequent cycles of accreditation. During the institutional visit, theNAAC peer team will interact with the IQAC to know about its functioning, progress, and the quality sustenance initiatives undertaken by it.
The AQAR may be part of the Annual Report. It shall be approved by the statutory body/bodies of the HEIs (such as the Syndicate/Governing Council/Executive Council/Board of Management) which will also monitor the quality enhancement measures undertaken by the IQAC.
The IQAC may create its exclusive window tab on its institutional website for keeping the documents pertaining to NAAC, Peer Team Reports, AQAR, and Certificate of Accreditation. It shall regularly upload/report on its activities and host the AQAR as well.
NAAC launched the Revised Accreditation Framework in July 2017 and hence the AQAR format also was modified in tune with the new methodology. The tools and parameters in the new AQAR format have been designed in such a way that the preparation of the AQAR would facilitate the HEI’s SSR preparation for the upcoming cycle of accreditation. It is hoped that new AQAR format would facilitate Higher Education Institutions in creating a good database at the institutional level for enhancing a culture of excellence.
As per the Revised Accreditation Framework (RAF), NAAC-accredited institutions need to submit the AQAR online. Henceforth, HEIs need not submit the printed/hard copy of the AQAR to NAAC. The login ID for the online submission of the AQAR will be the e-mail ID used for the Institutional Information for Quality Assessment (IIQA). The AQAR of the preceding year should be submitted to NAAC before 31st December every year. When institutions submit the AQAR online they will receive an automated response from the NAAC portal.
The Executive Committee of NAAC has decided that with effect from 16th September 2016 regular submission of the AQAR is mandatory for the second and subsequent cycles of accreditation. The following are the prerequisites for the submission of AQARfor all Higher Education Institutions opting for the second and subsequent cycles of Assessment and Accreditation: •The institution should have a functional IQAC.
Note: The terms and abbreviations used in the AQAR are in accordance with the respective NAAC manuals. Please refer to the glossary for the meaning of specific terms and abbreviations used in the AQAR.