UGC SPONSORED

STATE LEVEL ONE-DAY SEMINAR

ON

‘‘IMPACT OF ASSESSMENT & ACCREDITATION BY NAAC ON COLLEGE EDUCATION’’

April 24, 2009 (Friday)

Organised By: TARAKESWAR DEGREE COLLEGE

(Accredited with Grade ‘B’ by NAAC) Tarakeswar, Hooghly, W.B., Ph.- (03212) 276269, Fax- (03212) 279398

Website : tarakeswardegreecollege.com, E-mail : principal@tarakeswardegreecollege.com, info@tarakeswardegreecollege.com

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UGC SPONSORED STATE LEVEL ONE DAY SEMINAR ‘‘Impact of Assessment & Accreditation by NAAC on C ollege Education’’

April 24, 2009 (Friday) Organised By : TARAKESWAR DEGREE COLLEGE

PROGRAMME SCHEDULE

Inaugural Session

10.00-11.00 : Registration

11.00-11.10 Welcome Song : Prof. Nita Bandyobadhyay Lecturer in Music, Tarakeswar Degree College

11.10-11.20 : Welcome Address : 1) Mr. Ashis Rana President, Governing Body, Tarakeswar Degree College

11.30-11.50 : 2) Dr. Amal Kanta Hati Principal, Tarakeswar Degree College

11.50-12.30 : Inauguration and Inaugural Address

: Prof. Arup Chattopadhyay Dean of Arts, Commerce, Management & Law etc Burdwan University

Technical Session-I : Chairperson : Prof. Arup Chattopadhyay

12.30-1.00 : Key Note Address : Dr. Dipak Bhattacharya Member Secretary, Higher Education Council

1.00-1.30 : Speaker : Dr. Udayan Sarkar Principal, Asansol B.B. College Topic : Impact of Assessment & Accreditation by NAAC : Quality Sustenance in Functioning of Higher Educational Institutions.

1.30-2.30 : Lunch Break

Technical Session-II : Chairperson : Dr. Dipak Bhattacharya

2.30-3.00 : Speaker : Dr. Basudeb Karmakar Principal, Serampore Girls’ College Topic : Stakeholders in Higher Education & their role in Quality Assurance (with inputs from ‘Students Charter’ by NAAC)

3.00-3.20 : Paper Presentation : Dr. Sutanuka Ghosh Roy Lecturer in English & Management Topic : Best Practices in Teaching, Learning & Evaluation— An Overview.

3.20-3.40 Paper Presentation : Dr. R.L. Bhowmik Lecturer in Commerce & Management And Mr. Jyotirmoy Mazumder Lecturer in Management Topic : NAAC’s New System for Assessment & Accreditation of Higher Education Institutions in India.

3.40-4.00 Paper Presentation : Mrs. Pramila Majhi Lecturer, Vivekananda Mahavidyalaya Topic : Quality Assurance in Teaching, Learning and Examination System— Challenges & Strategies.

4.00-4.20 : Paper Presentation : Mrs. Rama Nag (De) Sr. Grade Lecturer in Commerce, Tarakeswar Degree College Topic : Emerging Reforms in Higher Education

Valedictory Session :

4.20 : Vote of Thanks : Dr. R.L. Bhowmik Convenor of the Seminar

4.30 Distribution of Certificate

:

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I am delighted to know that Tarakeswar Degree College, Tarakeswar, Hooghly, affiliated to the University of Burdwan, is going to organize a UGC sponsored State Level Seminar on “Impact of Assessment & Accreditation by NAAC on College Education” on 24th April, 2009, in which I shall act as an inaugurator and deliver my inaugural speech. Gross enrolment ratio in higher education in our country is presently abnormally low and the aim of the Central Government is to raise it to 15% by 2015. For that purpose an all-round effort must be made now by developing the concept of private-public partnership along with the existing state funded institutions in providing higher education. To encourage the healthy competition among the providers of higher education and also to enhance its quality with a higher access in it, an autonomous body like NAAC must function effectively with its unbiased criteria of assessment and accreditation. I do hope that the delegates from different walks of life will actively participate in the discussion on major issues related to the theme of the seminar and that will help us understand the effectiveness of the new standards prescribed by the NAAC along with their proper implementation for enlarging the horizon of higher education in India. I convey my best wishes to all of them who are taking initiative to make the programme a grand success as well as to publish a useful Post-seminar Issue.

Arup Chattopadhyay

Professor Arup ChattopadhyayProfessor Arup ChattopadhyayProfessor Arup ChattopadhyayProfessor Arup Chattopadhyay THE UNIVERSITY OF BURDWAN Dean, Faculty of Arts, Commerce, Law, GOLAPBAG, BURDWAN Management, Music & Fine Arts WEST BENGAL, INDIA

Phone: (Office) (0342) 2656549, 2656566, 2558554

EPABX Ext. 401 2558771 (Direct)

Fax: 91-0342-2558771 E-mail: arup.chatto@yahoo.co.in

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Principal’s Speech At the very outset, I would like to express my deep gratitude to respected Dean of Arts, Commerce, Management & Law, Prof. Arup Chattopadhyay, respected member secretary, Higher Education Council, Dr. Dipak Bhattacharya, respected colleague, Principal, Dr. Udayan Sarkar, Asansol B.B. College, respected Joint Secretary, W.B. State Council of Higher Education & Head, Quality Assurance Cell (NAAC), respected colleague Dr. Basudeb Karmakar, Principal, Srirampur Girls’ College, my friends & colleagues. I extend my warm welcome to all of you, on behalf of our Tarakeswar Degree College family.

Needless to mention that Tarakeswar Degree College is a relatively new college, established twenty-two years ago on 5th September, a day celebrated as the Teachers’ Day in memory of Dr. Sarbapalli Radhakrishnan, great philosopher, guide and teacher. His Holiness Sri Srimat Dandiswami Hrishikesh Ashram Mahanta Maharaj of Tarakeswar Math with his kindness and generosity donated 3.5 acres of prime land for the purpose of establishing The College Campus. The College started its journey with six departments (pass subjects) having 37 students. Today, we have more than 2636 students studying both in General and Honours curriculum in as many as fourteen departments.

Our Mission

From Quality Awareness To Quality Assurance To Quality Sustenance

Our Vision

Dissemination of learning among all members of the society across narrow barriers of Caste,

Creed and Religion and also among the economically challenged. Our today’s Seminar Topic is- “Impact of Assessment and Accreditation by NAAC on College Education”.

Now, in Assessment & Accreditation process, seven criteria/steps paradigm are followed. Eventually, there is both spiritual and rational basis. If Quality is an acronym, each letter may epitomize a step in Quality. They are- Quest for excellence- The continuous journey to reach the highest point in performance is the

sure way of achieving excellence and in this complex globalised world, the ceaseless pursuit of excellence alone can help us survive and serve.

Understanding the concept- A high-level work ethic is essential to achieve the quality. Action-orientation- Aristotle noted ‘virtue is action’. An ounce of action is worthier than tons

of words. Learner-centric approach- The student participation in quality assurance and the demand for

quality from students is the only way of enriching and sustaining quality in higher education.

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Innovation for change-in changing society- We are living in a fast changing society. The teachers, managements, and students at institutional level can generate new ideas and new practices, which would be more authentic and reliable.

Training to build competencies-for various functions- Different training modules may be developed for categories of functionaries in higher education to build up institutional competencies.

Year-round activity- Indians have a general image that they are good at one time activities like good at organizing college day programs, but not so good in running the college at least for 180 days in a year and so on.

Basically, we the academicians should realize why we need to reorient ourselves, sharpen

our intellect and have our instructional skills in the greater social interest and how we can do it in our multifarious pedagogical roles as Teacher, Instructor, Researcher or Guide. Last but not the least, I again welcome all. I believe the program will be a success with sincere cooperation from all corner. Amal kanta Hati

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Convenor’s Speech

The year 2007 is a turning point for Tarakeswar Degree College. This year has been the turn around positively with a decent “B” Grade in the NAAC assessment of its overall qualities. Tarakeswar Degree College, though small, has been allowed by UGC to conduct the One-day State Level Seminar on “Impact of Assessment and Accreditation by NAAC on College Education”. I think myself fortunate to have such an approval. I believe that the seminar will be of much use for both the accredited and unaccredited Colleges of our state. I am grateful to UGC for their sponsorship. I would not like to miss the opportunity to convey my deep gratitude to all of my Colleagues, our Principal Dr. Amal Kanta Hati, our Non-teaching Staffs, our students beloved and others, those who have directly and indirectly helped us. I express my deep sense of gratitude to Prof. Arup Chattopadhyay, Dean of Arts, Commerce etc., Dr. Dipak Bhattacharya, Member Secretary, Higher Education Council and Dr. Jibendu Kumar Roy, Joint Secretary, West Bengal State Council of Higher Education, Kolkata, without whose guidance I couldn’t have moved even an inch. As the Convenor of the One-day Seminar on the above topic I wish every success of our beloved institution that has grown from strength to strength in front of our amazed eyes. As the Seminar has been organized with a very short period, there may be some lapses on our part, I appeal to our esteemed guests to bear with us. With thanks and best wishes to everybody. Dr. Ratanlal Bhowmik

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Contents

PROGRAMME SCHEDULE : 02-02 DEAN’S MESSAGE : 03-03 PRINCIPAL’S SPEECH : 04-05 CONVENOR’S SPEECH : 06-06 SUB-COMMITTEES : 08-08 QUALITY PARAMETRES IN HIGHER EDUCATION : ROLE OF KNOWLEDGE COMMISSION DR. DIPAK BHATTACHARYYA : 09-13 IMPACT OF ASSESSMENT & ACCREDITATION BY NAAC : QUALITY SUSTENANCE IN FUNCTIONING OF HIGHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION DR. UDAYAN CHANDRA SARKAR : 14-18 STAKEHOLDERS IN HIGHER EDUCATION AND THEIR ROLE IN QUALITY ASSURANCE DR. B. KARMAKAR : 19-21 BEST PRACTICES IN TEACHING, LEARNING, EVALUATION : AN OVERVIEW DR. SUTANUKA GHOSH ROY : 22-23 EMERGING REFORMS IN HIGHER EDUCATION RAMA NAG(DE) : 24-26 NAAC’s NEW SYSTEM FOR ASSESSMENT AND ACCREDITATION OF HEIs IN INDIA DR. RATANLAL BHOWMIK & JYOTIRMOY MAZUMDER : 27-38 QUALITY ASSURANCE IN TEACHING, LEARNING & EXAMINATION SYSTEM : CHALLENGES & STRATEGIES PRAMILA MAJHI : 39-43 DELEGATES LIST : 44-46

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UGC SPONSORED STATE LEVEL ONE DAY SEMINAR ‘‘Impact of Assessment & Accreditation by NAAC on C ollege Education’’

SUB-COMMITTEES

Sl. No.

Sub Committee

TEACHERS & STAFF

01 Registration Arundhuti Moulik (Ray), Rama Nag (De), Sikha Ghorui, Manas Guchhait, Paramita Banerjee, Haraprasad Deshmukh, Dola Pal, Sayani Bhattacharya

02 Reception Dr. Sonali Mukherjee, Soma Saha, Reba Bhattacharyay, Kashinath Dhara, Mahua De, Swati Rakshit, Sanjukta Haldar, Nita Banerjee,

03 Certificate Suvro Sarkar, Krishna Mohan Das, Sanjib Bera, Ananta Malik, Samarpita Ghosh, Saptarshi Chakraborty, Chandan Maity, Joyshree Ghosh, Mohua Ahiri

04 Food Md. Shanawaz, Sasanka Bera, Dhiraj Mondal, Ashim Pal, Soumen Mukhejee, Asit Kr. Manna, Asma Khatun, Sunita Guha Harendranath Kole

05 Finance Dr. Ratanlal Bhowmik, Golok Ch. Mete, Sukumar Puley, Surajit Sengupta

06 Programme Executor & Decoration

Harendra Nath Kole, Dr. Tapan Kr. Ghosh, Haradhan Kundu, Nirmal Chattapadhyay, Subhrasri Bera, Jyotirmoy Mazumder, Khokan Halder, Tarak Maji, Nepal Adhikari,

07 Invitation Comm.

Soma Saha, Taraknath Chattopadhyay, Swapan Shaw, Jamal Akthar, Sourav Ghosh, Netai Chandra Mondal,

08 Special Comm. Dr. Sonali Mukherjee, Kaumari Bhattacharya, Srabani Sen, Munmun Bag, Animesh Pan, Sd. Sha Taukirul Islam, Palash Kumar Das, Manick Ch. Samanta, Asit Mukherjee, Shyam Rout

09 Anchoring Dr. Sutanuka Ghosh Roy

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QUALITY PARAMETERS IN HIGHER EDUCATION : ROLE OF KNOWLEDGE COMMISSION

Dr. Dipak Bhattacharyya

Member Secretary, West Bengal State Council of Higher Education “Quality is not a change, but a choice; quality is not an accident, but a design; quality is not a destination, but a continuous journey.”

1.0 To introduce After independence India witnessed a significant growth in Higher Education(H.E.). Ours is already a vast, robust and numerically impressive Higher Education system, third largest after US and China, with more than 400 Universities, 20 thousand colleges and student enrollment touching 11 million with close half a million faculty. Yet GER remains about 10%, far below the world average of 23% (d.3.5% in LDCS and 69% in OECD countries).

National Knowledge Commission (NKC) wanted to increase the GER to 15% by 2015 and recommended setting up of 1500 Universities with in such period. This is corroborative to the population-university statistics of the developed countries.

Country .Population No. of Universities

Japan 127 million 4000 USA 301 million 3650 India 1.2 billion 435

1.1 In development economics, big population now- a- days is no longer taken as liability, rather is treated as assets. India contains 52% of her population at below 25 age. If these mammoth populace of youth could be upbrought with quality education and skills, India is sure to reap the benefit of ‘Demographic Dividend’. Experts are professing that India would be an economic and intellectual store-house by 2020. This is only possible if we could convert the big population into human capital with side by side accumulation of intellectual assets through quality education, higher learning and research; Human capital and intellectual assets are collectively known as Intellectual Capital, which like other capital appreciates and depreciates and requires maintenance and finetuning. The OECD estimates that more than 50% wealth of ICs is derived from intellectual capital. 1.2 India has got the potency of becoming a key player in knowledge driven global situation. It is on record that India has contributed to America 28% of IBM technologies, 34% of Microsoft employees, 36% of NASA Scientists and 38% of Doctors (Dhar, 2008). This is due to the fact that India has a long academic tradition arid uses English as primary language in Higher Education and research. We should keep watchful eyes to our competitors- China and other Asian Tigers. The recent ranking of the World's top 200 Universities, as published in the H.E. Supplement of London Times, included 3 in China, 3 in Hong Kong, 1 in Taiwan and 1 in India. (an IIT at no. 41 - campus not specified). 1.3 Other menacing situation in H.E. in India has arisen due to rapid rush of private investors in the field, taking advantage of the new world order. Amidst these complexities, the root questions to be answered are:

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� What should be the optimal mix of public and private participation in this expansive phase?

� How to parameterize quality in H.E. and who is to judge it-market forces or peers' assessment?

� How to inculcate enhanced levels of accountability in HEIs? We are to tackle these in a much determined and prudent way. 2.0 Kernel Aspects of National Knowledge Commission (NKC, 2007) Prof. Amartya Sen remarked that “Excellence in Higher Education must include equity.” A properly developed Higher Education (H.E.) System accords due importance to access, equity and quality, which. J.P. Naik referred to as an 'elusive triangle' in the Indian HE. scenario. NKC proposes a differentiated academic structure with an elite sector at the top, mass based less selective institutions in the middle and vocationally oriented post-secondary institutions at the bottom. Patterns of funding or govt. support will vary depending on their needs. NKC suggested establishment of 50 high class National Universities geographically distributed all over the country. These Universities are supposed to follow meritocratic operation competing with the best universities in the world. To guarantee quality and excellence along with expansion, NKC has formulated a reform strategy towards inclusive growth situation.

Excellence Access Equity 2.1 The core recommendations of NKC are delineated as under:

� Optimization of installed capacity (viz., building, classrooms, labs, libraries and expertise of the faculties).

� Institutional Autonomy (design/ development of curriculum, conduction of exams, evaluation and award of degrees).

� Extensive curriculum reforms (restructuring with adoption of choice-based credit system, semester pattern and internal assessment).

� Rationalization and relaxation of legislation of the Universities. � Tightening of accreditation system. � Academic Audit (student's as well as peer evaluation). � Teacher Training Programme (to increase competencies). � Quality of Teachers (to attract and retain talented faculties providing better service

conditions and incentives) � Staff Development Programme. � Value Education � ICT enabled teaching-learning � Higher Education Portal � Universities as Hub of research � Infrastructure facilities (supporting T-L process, e.g. Labs, libraries and modern

equipment)

Els— Elite Institutions MBLSIs— Mass Based Less Selective Institutions VELs— Vocation Education Institutions

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3.0 Regulatory Bodies: The HEIs in India are regulated by many statutory agencies such as UGC, AICTE, BCI, MCI etc. Each of these regulatory bodies is governed by its own individual Acts. Year Statutory Body 1933 Medical Council of India (MCI) 1947 Indian Nursing Council (INC) 1948 Dentist Council of India (DCI) 1948 Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) 1956 University Grants Commission (UGC) 1961 Bar Council of India (BCI) 1971 Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) 1972 Council of Architecture (COA) 1987 All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) 1993 National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE) 1993 Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) 1995 Distance Education Council (DEC)

3.1 There are various stages of regulation such as approval, recognition, affiliation and accreditation. The HE in India, in the words of NKC, is “over-regulated but under-governed”. There is “multiplicity of regulatory agencies” where “mandates are overlapping and confusing”; that necessitates a system of “single window clearance” in the form of Independent Regulatory Authority for Higher Education (IRAHE). The NKC proposed for establishment of IRAHE mainly aiming at facilitating set up of new universities especially by private investors and through public-private partnership. The functions of IRAHE are assigned as

• To determine eligibility for setting up new institutions • To apply same norms to private, public and international institutions. • To accord degree granting powers to HEIS • To monitor standards and settle disputes • To determine the authority for licensing accrediting agencies

NKC proposes that the role of UGC should be confined by disbursing public funds; MCI and BCI should merely function as professional associations and conduct licensing exams and all the other agencies like AICTE should be abolished.

3.2 Composition of IRAHE : A distinguished Academician would be appointed as the Chairperson by the Prime Minister, based on the recommendation of a Search Committee; six other members who are distinguished academics in different disciplines would also be appointed. Some part-time members of outstanding attainments would further be associated.

4.0 Accreditation Agencies: Quality concept originates from the industrial sector. The term ‘Quality’, when applied to HE taking it both as goods and service, can be defined in terms of satisfaction level of stakeholders, viz., students, parents, govt. and society at large, by developing appropriate knowledge and skills. There are three academic bodies that evaluate institutional quality through accreditation process in the Indian HE sector:

1. The National Assessment & Accreditation Council (NAAC); established by UGC in 1994 to accredit HEIs.

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2. The National Board of Accreditation (NBA); established by AICTE in 1994 to accredit management and engineering programmes.

3. The Accreditation Board (AB); established by the ICAR in 1996 to accredit Agricultural Institutes.

4.1 The system of Assessment and Accreditation in promoting quality in these cases mainly focuses the concern on institutions instead of learners. It appears to be based on assumption that good institutions could produce good graduates. There has necessarily been an alternative view that quality should shift its focus from institutions to learners as far as practicable. Quality is in fact to be designed as ‘in process’ and ‘end process’ and not the only ‘start process’ or ‘show process’. Quality has rather to be developed as a culture and not as process alone.

5.0 Quality parameters as stipulated by NAAC In-built design and maintenance of quality in HE has been made operable by NAAC in terms of well thought of and extensively researched criteria. These are placed in the tabular form. Criterion No. Criterion Key Indicators 1. Curriculum

Aspects (i) Curriculum design and development (ii) Academic flexibility (iii) Feedback on Currirulum (iv) Curriculum Update (v) Best Practices in Curriculum Aspects

2. Teaching-Learning and Evaluation

(i) Admission process and student profile (ii) Catering diverse needs (iii) Teaching-learning process (iv) Teacher quality (v) Evaluation process and reforms (vi) Best practices in teaching, learning and

evaluation 3. Research,

Consultancy and Extension

(i) Promotion of research (ii) Research and publication output (iii) Consultancy (iv) Extension activities (v) Collaborations (vi) Best Practices in Research, Consultancy and

Extension 4. Infrastructure

and Learning resources

(i) Physical facilities for learning (ii) Maintenance of infrastructure (iii) Library as a learning resource (iv) ICT as learning resources (v) Other facilities (vi) Best Practices in the development of

infrastructure and learning resources 5. Student Support

and Progression (i) Student progression (ii) Student Support (iii) Student activities (iv) Best Practices in student support and progression

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6. Governance and Leadership

(i) Institutional vision and leadership (ii) Organizational arrangements (iii) Strategy development and development (iv) Human resource management (v) Financial Management and resource

Mobilization (vi) Best Practices in governance and leadership

7. Innovative Practices

(i) Internal quality assurance system (ii) Inclusive practices (iii) Stake holder relationships

7. Criteria Total Score 1000 36 key Aspects The 7 (Seven) criteria are the quality parameters. A number of Assessment indicators (micro-indicators of quality) have been developed for each of 36 key aspects under and respective criterion. 5.1 The Accreditation status of the institution depends upon the CGPA acquired during the assessment of the learning centre.

Grade Cumulative Grade Point Average

(Range) Performance Descriptor

A 3.01 – 4.00 Very Good (Accredited) B 2.01 – 3.00 Good (Accredited) C 1.51 – 2.00 Satisfactory (Accredited) D ≤1.50 Unsatisfactory (Not Accredited)

5.2 Quality Gap A survey conducted by uee (2007), as quoted by Kasetwar (2008), reveals that—

• On almost all indicators, HE in India has an urgency for upgradation • 90% of the Colleges and 68% Universities across the country are of middling or poor

quality • The dropout rate amongst ST is maximum (61.5%) followed by SC (51.21%) OBC

(50.09%) According to S.K. Panda (2008), out of 3492 colleges accredited till March 2007, 245 are in ‘A’ range (7%), 1785 in ‘B’ range (51%), rest 1462 are in ‘C’ range (42%). The above facts clearly show the need for improving the quality and standard of the HE in India. 6.0 In lieu of Conclusion: The NKC recommendations are most often overshadowed by fanciful words (like ‘mini revolutions’, ‘major revolution’, ‘overhauling in education’ denoting transformation in the system) and wishful thinking which stand far from reality context. A big part of the recommendations sounds repetitive of several recommendations of other early Commissions which failed hopelessly in the past. NAAC formulated parameters for accreditation nevertheless appear more realistic. Last but not the least, over centralization of authority, as has been proposed for IRAHE, empowering it to license indiscriminate accreditation agencies, might invite debacle in future, following the familiar dictum “all power corrupts; and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

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IMPACT OF ASSESSMENT & ACCREDITATION BY NAAC: QUALITY SUSTENANCE IN FUNCTIONING

OF HIGHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION.

Dr. Udayan Chandra Sarkar Principal, Banwarilal Bhalotia College, Asansol

ABSTRACT

Key Words: Higher Education Institution, NAAC, IQAC, Assessment, Accreditation, Stakeholder, Management, Quality, Benchmark, Excellence

The National Assessment & Accreditation Council (NAAC) has assessed & accredited different activities of the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) for maintaining momentum of quality, consciousness is a prime importance. The HEIs must have a goal towards institutionalization and internalization. Quality sustenance & quality enhancement is one of the important function of Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC). The function of the IQAC is to develop quality benchmarks for each of the academic and administrative activities on the basis of its own practices and the experience of other. To make quality assurance mechanism an integral part of education system and at the same time attain academic excellence, it is expected that the HEIs established the IQAC. To ensure continuous improvement in all the functional aspects of an institution and also assure its stakeholders of the accountability of the institution for its own quality and excellence. The activities of the HEIs may be organised at different level like Institution, University, State, and National or International level. The students, teachers and other stakeholder will stand to benefit from such activities/programmes. They should be known from their commencement, to improve the quality of teaching & learning. The present paper has highlighted this issues and challenges can deal with how it has been achieved Sustenance of Quality & Excellence of HEIs after Assessment & Accreditation by the NAAC.

INTRODUCTION India is possessing one of the biggest Higher Education systems in the world. But at

present only 7% of relevant age group of 17 to 23 are in the coverage of Higher Education Network although Higher Education is a fundamental right of Indian citizen.

An independent taskforce setup by UNESCO in 1998 has in its report entitled “Higher Education in developing country, Peril and Promise”. Every individual must be developed in all spheres of life. It aims at distributing the fruits of economic growth to a wider population instead of perpetuating cesspools of prosperity. Government needs to spend more than 10% of the GDP on Education.

To ensure the quality, teaching learning process is the soul of the Higher Educational Institute (HEI). The NAAC instructed to establish IQAC in the accredited institution for internal regularity, and self-accreditation frame work is to be developed - a system, which will be compatible with global academia consist with, philological views that remains intrinsic to the society.

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SUSTENANCE OF QUALITY The growth, development, monitoring and sustenance of quality and excellence of the

Higher Education should be a created in a congenial atmosphere. Teacher organizations, administrative staffs must take initiatives to serve the stakeholders for the creation of socially and economically challenged citizens. Since independence, the growth of the Higher Education is presented in the table below as follows:-

Sl. No. Particulars 1947 1951 1981 1991 2001 2002 2003 2007

1 Universities 20 28 131 16 198 201 300 378

2 Colleges 500 750 4886 7436 12000 12342 15343 18064

3 Faculties (Lacs) 1500 21000 1.93 2.63 3.51 3.90 4.36 4.92

4 Students (Lacs) 1 26 27.5 47.3 77.3 85.0 92.0 140

5 Population (Lacs) - - - 84630 102700 - - - Source: UGC-NAAC consolidated report.

But the growth of the number of the institutions are not the only criteria for the Higher Education, Government must take steps in removing disparities in Higher Education system and make it easily accessible and equitable, relevant quality education to every desiring citizen should easily be available whether he or she belongs to rural, backward or other marginalized groups and financially backward belong into the Below Poverty Line.

Disparities of Higher Education in India are shown below in a tabular form:

GER Disparities

2003 2005

1. Area i. Rural 6.70 7.76 ii. Urban 19.90 27.20

2. Gender i. Male 12.40 15.25 ii. Female 9.10 11.02

3. Social Groups i. SCs 657 ii. STs 6.52 iii. OBCs 8.77 iv. Others 17.22

4. Inter Religions i. Hindus 12.00 ii. Minorities 8.19

5. Economic Groups i. Rural Poor 1.30 ii. Rural Non-poor 7.12 iii. Urban Poor 5.51 iv. Urban Non-Poor 27.15

Overall 1.00

Source: UGC The present paper has highlighted these issues and challenges can be dealt with how it can be achieved sustenance of quality and excellence. A model is presented below for working in the arena of the educational administration from smaller periphery to greater periphery.

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Your Current

comfort zone

Your Current

comfort zone

Comfort Zone

Model from Current Comfort Zone to bigger Comfort Zone in administration particular

The NAAC has been keeping a continuous vigilance over the quality enhancement in Higher Education Institution through functional Internal Quality Assurance Cell. The Total Quality Management is an approach of implementation which focuses the quality of all aspect of operations with the participation of every one – Teachers, Administrative Staff, Students, Parents, Alumni and all the stakeholders of the periphery. This call for sustainable development approach, wherein developmental success is measured not only in term of its financial bottom line, but also in terms of its performance in Social & Environmental arrear.

“Quality is not an act, it is a habit.” – Aristotle

1. IQAC Cell has been monitoring the administrative activities of the HEI. 2. Periodical meeting with the Administrative Staff. 3. Providing information on the various Govt. orders. 4. Training of the Administrative Staff. 5. Providing Computer Literacy & Application in the Office Administration. 6. In-service up-liftment of qualifications. 7. Preparation of new proposal 8. Timely submission of Statistical information. 9. To Stop Yellow Journalism in the office. 10. To create ethical awareness. 11. Record keeping. 12. Providing timely service to the stakeholders.

Academic sustenance depends on quality and motivation of the teachers and administrative staffs, library information service with proper ICT application available to the institution with proper administrative infrastructure. In the direct teaching process, the quality of teaching in the class room ultimately involved communication and transmission of knowledge and information, concepts of ideas and facts and principles to the learners. Dissemination of advance knowledge should be through simplified approach. A learner is may be passive for the immediate activation needs immediate feedback. In the theoretical or practical class distribution of key points of the portent lectures may distributed by way of photocopies. Using audio visual aids in their digital class room is helpful. Up to date reference should be provided for the preparation of

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study materials for the students for their home work. Innovative project work may be planned for the students. Individual and Collaborative Research Project may be conducted through some financial agencies and their outcome as a publication should be presented in the conferences, seminars and other reputed journals. The financial process should be transparent through internal and outer financial auditing system. Resource should be generated by way of conducting different examinations, collecting rent from the existing property. Funds may be generated from the alumni of repute. Donation from the individual and society or industry may be accepted with the permission of the proper administrative body. Self-financing courses may generate funds for the overall growth and development of HIE. The government should be pressurized to increase funding in higher education. More attention should be given to expand the Higher Education network. There is a direct linkage between education and socioeconomic development of a nation. The changes can be brought only by education. Education is the way of achieving social and economic quality in society. Impact of assessment and accreditation of the Higher Educational Institution by the institution like National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), changes academic curriculum development standard and quality which attend the Bench Mark of International Standard, which leads to the Quality of Excellence. The success depends on goals, motivation, desire which are presented in a model shown below.

In the Higher Education scenario Principal is the excel of the HEI like a degree college. He should have an innovative insights to create a proper atmosphere by using individual Human

MMoottiivvaattiioonn

Outside (extrinsic)

Within (intrinsic)

C O R E D E S R E SA= (CD + D) x PA + P

Success Attitude = (Core Desire + Direction)

x Proper Action + Persistence

CCoorree DDeessii rree Set Goals

The Success Attitude Formula

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Resource to make a collective unit. The said unit coagulated into a team and ultimately an entire organization and these are only possible by an able leadership of a dynamic Principal, who is the academic and administrative head of the HEI. The dynamic leadership is only than possible where culture of innovation exist. A modular presentation is sited below.

Innovative Insights

Important to create an atmosphere

Environment : an environment that scales it up from

Individual

A Team

A Unit

An Entire Organization

Lead

ersh

ipC

ompo

nent

We are talking about the Bench Marking of Education. Bench Marking means fixing standard for all activities on the basis of own practices and the experience of others. The develop realistic and attainable quality Bench Mark for each academic and administrative activities. To come in the way of Bench Marking, IQAC would help sustain and strength the momentum generated is being advocated as pre and post accreditation activity of HIE. The Role of IQAC has been monitoring the administrative activity of the institution by way of conducting periodical meeting with the administrative staff, providing information on the various govt. orders, training of the administrative staff – providing computer literacy in application to the office administration. Impetuous should be given in service administrative staff for their up-liftment of qualifications.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

♦ I take this opportunity to record my gratitude and appreciation to Prof. (Dr.) Sudhir Roy, President of the Governing Body & Co-coordinator, IQAC, B.B. College, Asansol and Dr. Dipak Bhattacharya, Member Secretary, West Bengal Higher Education Council and Dr. Jibendu Roy, Joint Secretary, West Bengal State Council of Higher Education Council. I also congratulate all the family members of the Tarakeswar Degree College for giving me scope to deliberate the presentation in the distinguish gathering. At last I would like to express my gratefulness to Mr. Ganesh Hegde, Assistant Adviser, NAAC for his continuous encouragement for quality education and maintenance the Bench Mark of the HIE.

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STAKEHOLDERS IN HIGHER EDUCATION AND THEIR ROLE IN QUALITY ASSURANCE

(with inputs from ‘Student Charter’ by NAAC)

Dr. B. Karmakar Principal, Serampore Girls’ College

Who are the stakeholders? � Students, Guardians / Parents, Teachers, Non-teaching Staff, The Alumni, The

Management / Governing Body, The Community, Governments and External quality assurance agencies.

Role of students in Quality Assurance � Students and the institution have responsibilities towards each other. � Quality Assurance is possible when these responsibilities are honoured. � Students have a unique role to play in ensuring quality in higher education. Students’ role is twofold. � Students should realize that they have the right for quality education and it is the

responsibility of higher education institutions to provide quality educational experience to learners.

� Students should equally be aware of their responsibilities, which in turn will help the institutions to provide quality education.

Students’ responsibilities of learning The students should—

� Appreciate the institutional goals and objective and contribute to the realization of the same by participating in relevant institutional activities.

� Have a clear knowledge of programmes, admission policies, rules and regulation of the institution.

� Undertake regular and intense study of learning materials. � Make optimum use of learning resources and support services available in the

institution. � Prepare for continuous internal assessment and term-end examinations. � Give feedback for system improvement � Have faith and ability to pursue life-long learning. � Live as worthy alumni of the institution.

Institution’s responsibilities towards students; the institution shall—

� Communicate its goals and objectives systematically and clearly to all students � Offer a wide range of programmes with academic flexibility to suit students of varied

merit and preferences. � Provide clear information to students about admission and completion requirements.

Fee structure, financial aid and support services. � Obtain feedback from students on the initiation, review and redesign of programmes

if and when necessary. � Facilitate effective running of the teaching learning programmes. � Implement a well-conceived plan for monitoring student progress continuously. � Ensure that the student assessment is reliable and valid. � Ensure well-run support services to all students.

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Role of guardians / parents � Guardians should ensure attendance of their wards at the institution. � Monitor the academic progress of their wards and their participation in co-curricular

activities. � Maintain contact with the institution through parent-teacher association or personal

contact with the Principal and teachers. � Provide feedback regarding activities of the institution and suggest ways of

improvement. Role of teachers Teachers play the most vital role in quality assurance. They should—

� Continuously try to enhance quality of the teaching-learning process through implementation of learner-centered strategies

� Enhance their own quality through self-study, effective participation in faculty development programmes, updating their knowledge on respective subjects.

Teachers should participate in co-curricular activities such as: � In-house seminars and conferences � Sports and cultural events � Study tours and educational excursions

Teachers should take an active part in conducting continuous assessment and exposing students to various modes of evaluation. They should support the management in maintaining discipline among students and staff, keeping the campus environment clean and hygienic Build up a healthy relationship with the students and non-teaching staff Role of Non-teaching Staff

� The non-teaching staff including the library staff has the responsibility of ensuring efficiency, transparency and probity in the administration.

� They should build up a spirit of cooperation and subordination with the Principal � They should also have a cordial relation with students and teaching staff.

Role of the alumni in quality assurance— � The importance of the alumni lies in the fact that an institution is known by the

quality its products � The alumni carry the brand of the institution.

The alumni may

� Provide feedback to the institution on its academic programmes, infrastructure, campus amenities, office, counseling mechanisms.

� They should form an association for effective contribution to the improvement of their alma mater.

� They should suggest improvements that are possible to be implemented. � They may also assist development of the institution by raising funds, establishing

contacts with donors, initiating collaborations, helping placement of the students, etc. The Governing Body

� The Governing Body is the supreme authority of administration of the institution – the principal acts as its Secretary and implements its decisions.

� The Governing Body has the responsibility of acting as the motive force behind quality sustenance, institutional developments and quality measures.

� The G.B. should be knowledgeable.

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� The teacher and non-teaching members should be aware of the problems of the institution and suggest possible remedies. They should present the considered opinion of teachers / non-teaching staff regarding development of the institution.

� The Government nominees should be aware of Government orders and other rules. They should act as liaison between the Government departments (Higher education, SC & ST W., Home, Health etc.) and the College.

� The University nominees should be conversant with University Acts, Statutes, Rules and Regulations and the changes that are effected from time to time.

� The Representative of the local Municipal Body / Panchayat should try to address local issues.

Role of the Community

� The Community is benefited by the institution and should, in return, try to benefit the institution.

� The community should ensure a disturbance-free environment for the institution. � They should not cause any hindrance for the institution to function according to

existing laws and Government orders.

Role of the Government � The Government consists of various departments –P.W.D., Home, Health, S.C. &

S.T. Welfare, Power etc. apart from that of Higher Education. � All departments of the State Govt. and the UGC should have a sympathetic attitude

towards the institution. Role of External Assessment Agencies Which are the agencies?

� National Assessment & Accreditation Council � University Inspector of Colleges � The Director of Public Instruction (higher education).

What should be their role in quality assurance? The assessment agencies should—

� Be fair, unbiased and transparent in their assessment. � There should be checks and balances in the procedure of assessment and

accreditation. � The agencies should provide positive suggestions for quality enhancement and should

not take punitive steps on any account.

A plant needs water, air, fertilizers, favorable environment to grow and bear fruit. An institution of education is very much like a plant. It needs funds, goodwill of the stakeholders and a sympathetic attitude of the authorities to blossom into a tree. Doesn’t an institution deserve them?

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BEST PRACTICES IN TEACHING, LEARNING, EVALUATION: AN OVERVIEW

Dr. Sutanuka Ghosh Roy

Lecturer in English and Management Tarakeswar Degree College

INTRODUCTION Quality has become the defining element of education in the 21st century mainly in the context of new social realities. The Millenium Development Goals of the United Nations (MDGs 2002) consider “knowledge” as the prime mover of development in the new millennium. Ours is a developing country, hence, the main focus is to provide quality education to large number of people at minimal costs. BEST PRACTICES AS INSTITUTIONAL QUALITY INDEX The question that comes to our mind is that what exactly do we mean by best practices? Practices, which add commendable value to an institution and its various stakeholders are considered as reliable benchmarks or standards of quality. NAAC is advocating the best practices benchmarking approach for quality enhancement in higher education. However this practice is widespread in the corporate world— where there are systematic means of measuring and comparing work processes of an organization with others. For example, comparing the work processes of Wipro with TCS vice versa. Best practices as benchmarks help institutions to find their anchor for self-improvement. If we look back in 1996 Commonwealth Higher Education Management Service (CHEMS), it launched an international “University Management Benchmarking Club” for universities from the Commonwealth. PURPOSE & INTENT OF THE BEST PRACTICES The next question that comes to our mind is what is the purpose and intent of the best practices? The main purpose and intent of the best practices is the development of an understanding of the fundamentals that lead to success. The focus should be on continuous improvement efforts and management of the overall change process to close the gap between an existing practice of the institution and that of the best-in-class institutions with reference to the most relevant key performance variables. We at Tarakeswar Degree College can introduce some of the best practices of Stephens College in Delhi. IMPLEMENTATION OF BEST PRACTICES The implementation of best practices is difficult. It is the Achilles’ heel. The academicians are fond of debates and discussions and most of us consider words as wisdom— but we should always keep in mind that words have to be transformed into actions. Otherwise the implementation of best practices will be a dream, it will never happen in reality. Instead of solutions, “academic eminence” may lead us to find problems in every solution. There are various implementation strategies— planning, resource mobilization, capacity building, monitoring and evaluation. Of these, planning comes first. The plan should be firm and solid. The next strategy is resource mobilization. Total Quality Management is an approach of implementation which focuses on quality of all aspects of operations with participation of

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everyone in the organization. Then only the implantation of the best practices will become successful. INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF BEST PRACTICES The process of making the best practices an integral part of the institutional working is important. NAAC had conducted a symposium on 26th, 27th July 2004 where 90 heads of colleges and universities participated, shared their experiences of application of best practices. One important point that came out after discussion was that many best practices are institution specific and managed by individuals— there is a risk factor, if that particular individual resigns or retires the entire system collapses. Moreover— best practices seem to require an extra effort. Most of us are not ready to put in that extra effort. Institutionalization is an effort to make it more institution centric rather than leader or individual centric. The focus should be to make the best practices as normal practice. INTERNALIZATION OF BEST PRACTICES It refers to making things a part of one’s nature by conscious learning and assimilation. Internalization of best practices means making excellence an integral part of one’s habit and nature We should all remember the age old dictum “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit.” Afterall it is the attitude which matters in imparting quality education. DISSEMINATION OF BEST PRACTICES Peer learning is to be encouraged. There should be no communication gaps---information should percolate from top to bottom. The institutions should have a database of good practices. There should be review forums, recording evidences for success etc. among the institutions. CONCLUSION To conclude, one can say that there should be an inductive approach to quality management in higher education institutions with a focus on practice and continuous improvement. If properly taken these approaches will surely help institutions to play their role effectively in quality sustenance and enhancement of learning. The Management has to provide proper infrastructure, effective governance and leadership. We should adopt more and more innovative practices which will take care of stakeholder relationship, as well as introduction of internal quality assurance system. Till now what we have discussed is just the tip of the iceberg. We are to remember that the teachers are to play a critical role if they want the best practices adopted by them to become successful. Infact the onus lies on their shoulders. Last but not the least, these best practices are meant for the students. It is for the students to decide what they want!!!

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EMERGING REFORMS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Rama Nag (De) Senior Lecturer in Commerce Tarakeswar Degree College

It is little more than half a century ever since the govt. initiated a planned development of higher education in the country particularly with the establishment of University Grants Commission in 1953. The importance on growth of higher education in West Bengal has gradually increased since 1950-51. Actually higher education has been identified as a key area where West Bengal gets much more advantage as compared to the other neighboring states. At present in our state a large number of well-qualified students in science, I.T, engineering, arts, C.A have passed and get a better opportunity in job market. Currently the issue of higher education is being discussed at various levels.

Higher Education is governed by the “National Policy On Education” of 1986 and “Program of Action” of 1992. The 1986 Policy and Action Plan of 1992 was based on the two land marks report namely the “University Education Commission” of 1948-49, popularly known as Radhekrishnan Commission and the “Education Commission” of 1964-66, popularly known as Kothari Commission. These two landmark reports in fact laid down the basic framework of National Policy for higher education in the country. Aims & Objectives After liberalization, education means not only academic knowledge but also skills for survival to connect with global society. I would like to consider on certain initiation from three perspects, i.e.,

� U.G.C � The State Higher Education � National Assessment and Accreditation Council

These all initiatives will have a greater importance on the future prospect of higher education in the states. Discussion in reforms in Higher Education The UGC referred five fold approaches for the 10th five-year plan.

� Access education, relevance of education � Quality of education, Governance � Resources

It has been stated that the universities given their autonomous status and course content should be changed according to social needs, so that our students would be fit for competitive job market. For this reason Vocational Courses and career oriented programmes should be introduced to reduce parents’ anxiety about the future of their children. Certificate courses on Multimedia Development Technology may be introduced.

The U.G.C has also decided to give importance on increasing career-oriented courses during the 10th five year plan. They also declared to give incentives to various colleges for starting such courses in the form of seed money, infrastructural facilities.

The UGC has also formulated a code of professional conduct for increasing accountability of teachers, i.e., preparations of annual self-appraisal report, abolition of private tuitions, mandatory examination of answer script.

The State Govt. has recommended that colleges are entitled to revise their tuition fees, which will be used for improving infrastructure & opening new self-financing courses.

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It has been stated that the State Govt. would give emphasis on consolidation rather than expansion. But it is also proved that the demand for higher education exceeds the supply of seats in colleges and universities. So open university and correspondence courses play an important role. Netaji Subhas Open University is running in our college with great success.

On the recommendation of the Programme of Action, NAAC, an autonomous body was established by the UGC in 1994 with its headquarter in Bangalore to assess and grade institutions of higher education for quality assurance.

Though the assessment and accreditation is voluntary on the part of the institution, all autonomous and affiliated colleges are entitled to meet the cost of accreditations by NAAC out of their development grants from the UGC.

There are some differences between assessment & accreditation. Assessment refers to evaluation of the institution whereas accreditation refers to the grade given by NAAC.

There are about 17625 colleges in the country (Feb 2006). Out of these about 14000 come under preview a UGC’s system. This account for about 80% of the total colleges in the country with an extended criterion of NAAC. Only 18% of the total 14000 colleges are assessed for quality.

The NAAC gradation indicate that 245 colleges are in A range ( A++, A+, A ) 1785

colleges in B range ( B++, B+, B ) and 668 colleges are in C range ( C++, C+, C )

NAAC Related Break-Up of General Degree Colleges In the State ( as on 31.03.2009 ), Source-NAAC Profile, March 2009.

University Self-

Financing Colleges

Total Colleges under the respective University

Eligible Colleges (S) for NAAC Assessment

NAAC Assessment

done

Calcutta 03 128 113 87 Burdwan 03 94 77 49 Jadavpur 01* 01 01 01 Kalyani -- 40 30 18 North Bengal 04* 46 33 17 Vidyasagar 01 41 33 22 West Bengal State University ( Barasat )

04 45 35 23

Gour Banga -- 21 16 06 West Bengal University of Technology

01 01 -- --

*JU – Smt. J.D.Birla Institute (SF) included under 2(f) & 12B of UGC and NAAC

accredited. NBU – Salesian College (SF) included under 2(f) & 12B of UGC NAAC accredited. # Under new methodology, Institutions are accredited as follows—

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Institutions Accredited under New Methodology only ( 1st April 2007 – January 2009)— Accreditation Status

Universities – 07 Colleges – 324

A B C 03 04 00 33 232 59

Source: NAAC Profile, March 2009 Over all status of Institution Accredited & reaccredited by NAAC are as follows—

As On January 2009 Accreditation Re-Accreditation Universities Colleges Total

147 3807 3954

28 158 186

Source: NAAC Profile, March’2009.

CONCLUSION The grade of our college in NAAC assessment is B and our full time teachers are 10 in number and no. of part time teachers is 35(Approx.). Some depts. are without any fulltime teachers and managed by only one teacher. So during preparatory stage of NAAC, it appeared that concept of education must be expanded to include humanistic education or holistic education and also it must have some relation with social aspect.

Curricular activities should be considered with respect to the demand of the society & economy. Role of college IQAC is very important in this respect. Full academic audit should be introduced. IQAC means Internal Quality Assurance Cell. NAAC specified in their instruction that every accredited institution should establish IQAC. As a result, enhancement of quality & sustenance will be maintained.

The entire exercise at preparing the self-study report of the institution involves all its constituent members such as— The Principal The Governing Body The Teaching Faculty Non-Teaching Staffs & Students This large-scale involvement does indeed offer an opportunity to work & think together. Reference: 1. Emerging challenges for Indian Education Policy by A.Kochar. 2. “Strategy for Economic Reforms in W.B Higher Education” By Abhijit Banerjee 3. “Higher Education in W.B & NAAC” by Tapati Basu. 4. NAAC profile, March’2009.

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NAAC’S NEW SYSTEM FOR ASSESSMENT AND ACCREDITATION OF HEIs IN INDIA

Dr. Ratanlal Bhowmik* Jyotirmoy Mazumder**

Abstract

In the era of globalization, higher education is considered a commodity. This hard reality

forces the University Grants Commission (UGC) to introduce the concept of “Performance

Evaluation” in the field of higher education. For evaluating the performance of higher

education institutions, the UGC set up National Assessment and Accreditation Council

(NAAC). As is known very well, the NAAC was established, based on the recommendations of

the National Policy on Education (1986) and the programme of action (1992), by the

University Grants Commission as an autonomous body in the year 1994 with its

headquarters in Bangalore. During the short span of 15 years, the Council has done a

commendable job in creating an awareness among the Higher Educational Institutions

(HEIs) about the need for imparting quality education and undertaking useful research, and

also in transforming the mood of HEIs from the apprehension about the very idea of external

review and evaluation to the appreciation for the intrinsic benefits of Accreditation. It has

already completed the Assessment and Accreditation of 140 Universities and 3492 colleges

[up to 8th March’09]. Besides, the Council has also Assessed and Re-accredited more than 83

HEIs [Re-accreditation of 23 Universities, 51 colleges and Re-assessed 09 colleges in

Karnataka only]. The fact that the Council has been approached by a number of Foreign

Institutions for their Assessment and Accreditations is a testimony to its invaluable service.

All these indicate the importance of the Council in upholding the quality of higher education

in India. On the basis of experience during the last fifteen years, the Council realized that the

previous system for Assessment and Accreditation of HEIs suffers from a few limitations.

Hence, it started the process of redesigning its on-going system of Assessment and

Accreditation. Based on its field experience, its shared knowledge with other International

Quality Assurance Agencies, consultative meetings with educational experts, and the

feedback received from different stakeholder groups, the Council has revised and released its

new system for Assessment and Accreditation of HEIs. This paper is, therefore, an attempt to

analyze the important aspects of the New system and to compare them with earlier system

and also to give some idea about the Computation of Cumulative Grade Point Average

(CGPA). * Lecturer in Commerce & Management, Tarakeswar Degree College ** Lecturer in Management, Tarakeswar Degree College

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INTRODUCTION: In the era of globalization, higher education is considered a commodity. This hard reality forces the University Grants Commission (UGC) to introduce the concept of “Performance Evaluation” in the field of higher education. For evaluating the performance of higher education institutions, the UGC set up National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC). As is known very well, the NAAC was established, based on the recommendations of the National Policy on Education (1986) and the programme of action (1992), by the University Grants Commission as an autonomous body in the year 1994 with its headquarters in Bangalore. During the short span of 15 years, the Council has done a commendable job in creating an awareness among the Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) about the need for imparting quality education and undertaking useful research, and also in transforming the mood of HEIs from the apprehension about the very idea of external review and evaluation to the appreciation for the intrinsic benefits of Accreditation. It has already completed the Assessment and Accreditation of 140 Universities and 3492 colleges [up to 8th March’09]. Besides, the Council has also Assessed and Re-accredited more than 83 HEIs [Re-accreditation of 23 Universities, 51 colleges and Re-assessed 09 colleges in Karnataka only]. The fact that the Council has been approached by a number of Foreign Institutions for their Assessment and Accreditations is a testimony to its invaluable service. All these indicate the importance of the Council in upholding the quality of higher education in India. On the basis of experience during the last fifteen years, the Council realized that the previous system for Assessment and Accreditation of HEIs suffers from a few limitations. Hence, it started the process of redesigning its on-going system of Assessment and Accreditation. Based on its field experience, its shared knowledge with other International Quality Assurance Agencies, consultative meetings with educational experts, and the feedback received from different stakeholder groups, the Council has revised and released its new system for Assessment and Accreditation of HEIs. This paper is, therefore, an attempt to analyze the important aspects of the New system and to compare them with earlier system and also to give some idea about the Computation of Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA). NEW SYSTEM : The new system is effective from April 1, 2007 and its comparison with the earlier system reveals that the Council has made changes in five areas-some are major changes and others are minor modifications. However, these changes are in the area of-

(i) Classification of HEIs, (ii) Assessment procedure, (iii) Criteria, (iv) Distribution of weights to criteria, (v) Grading System.

CLASSIFICATION OF HIGHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS : In the previous system, there is no distinction between one kind of HEIs and another. But the new system issued by the Council, reveals that the Institutions of Higher Learning are classified into two broad categories for the purpose of Assessment and Accreditation. They are-

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1) Group I : Affiliated Colleges and Constituent Colleges which are seeking the Assessment and Accreditation for the first time, and

2) Group II : Universities, Autonomous Colleges and Colleges with potential for Excellence. This Group also includes the Affiliated Colleges and Autonomous Colleges which are seeking Re-accreditation (i.e., the Colleges which are seeking Re-accreditation after the expiry of five-year period of their first Assessment and Accreditation).

ASSESSMENT PROCEDURE : With the Assessment procedure is concerned, a substantial change is made by the Council in its new system. The Council has introduced two-step approach for the Assessment and Accreditation of HEIs falling under Group I. The two steps are-(a) Institutional Eligibility for Quality Assessment(IEQA), and (b) Assessment and Accreditation. The first step is a new addition in the new system when compared to the earlier system. This new step is added because of the wide variations in the quality levels of Affiliated and Constituent Colleges, and also due to their large numbers in the country. And this is applicable for the Group I Institutions. The second step is common as earlier and is applicable to both the Groups of HEIs. Table 1 : Process of Institutional Assessment and Accreditation

Step Group I Group II

1 Submission of letter of Intent by the Applicant Institution

Submission of Letter of Intent by the Applicant Institution

2 HEIs to apply for, and obtain Institutional Eligibility for Quality Assessment Status

Not Applicable

3 Preparation and Submission of Self-study Reports

Preparation and Submission of Self-study Reports

4 Peer Team’s visit to HEIs and its Report Peer Team’s visit to HEIs and its Report

5 Institutional Grading Institutional Grading

From the Table 1, it becomes very unequivocal that the Steps 1, 3, 4 & 5 are common and mandatory for both the groups of HEIs. However, Step 2 is an additional one for HEIs falling under Group I. It may be noted here that in step 2: Institutional Eligibility for Quality Assessment status was not a part of Assessment and Accreditation procedure under the earlier system. Since it is a new addition, Institutions falling under Group I and which are still in the planning stage for Assessment have to apply for, and obtain, the Institutional Eligibility for Quality Assessment status from the Council. This certificate indicates that the Institutions is eligible to apply for Assessment and Accreditation. Following are the important stages involved in this step-

(i) The Institution has to fill the Format designed by the Council and Submit it to NAAC on-line. This Format contains 10 questions requiring “yes” or “no” responses and another 15 questions eliciting quantitative information from the applicant institution.

(ii) The filled-in Format, received by the Council will be subjected to computer analysis based on a set of predetermined scoring guidelines.

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(iii) The scores obtained by the applicant institution will be placed before the appropriate committee of the Council for determining the eligibility of the Institution for the next step.

(iv) If the Institution satisfies the minimum requirement score, it will be given the IEQA status for undergoing the next step. On the other hand, if the Institution fails to secure at least the minimum scores, the same will be communicated to the Institution together with the suggestions for improvement. Normally, the Council communicates its decision, to the Institutions within two months from the date of receipt of filled-in Format from the Institutions.

CRITERIA : In the new system, the Council has made an attempt successfully to improve the Sub-criteria under each of the seven broad criteria besides modifying the titles of the last two criteria. Comparison of criteria under two systems are given in Table 2. From the careful comparison and analysis of the contents of the table, the following things become very obvious. However, it is important to note at this stage of analysis that all the seven broad criteria and the sub-criteria, specified under each of the seven broad criteria in the new system are common for both the Groups of HEIs (i.e., Group I and Group II).

(i) As far as the number of criteria is concerned, there is no difference between the new and the previous system. Because, in both the cases, there are only seven broad categories of criteria.

(ii) Out of the seven broad categories of criteria, only in two cases, the names are changed-criteria VI has been changed from “Organisation and Management” to “Governance and Leadership” and criteria VII from “Healthy Practices” to “Innovative Practices”.

(iii) Within each broad criterion, a number of sub-criteria are included. However, most of these sub-criteria are same in both the systems.

The Higher Educational Institutions under both the Groups will be assessed by the NAAC Peer Team and accredited. Table 2 : Comparison of Criteria & their Sub-criter ia

Sl. No.

Criteria & their Sub-criteria under Previous System

Criteria & their Sub-criteria under New System

I Curricular Aspects: 1.1: Goal Orientation 1.2: Curriculum Development 1.3: Programme Options 1.4: Academic Flexibility 1.5: Feedback Mechanism

Curricular Aspects: 1.1: Curricular Design and Development 1.2: Academic Flexibility 1.3: Feedback on Curriculum 1.4: Curriculum Update 1.5: Best Practices in Curricular Aspects

II Teaching-Learning and Evaluation: 2.1: Admission Process 2.2: Catering to Diverse Needs 2.3: Teaching-Learning Process 2.4: Teacher Quality 2.5: Evaluation of Teaching 2.6: Evaluation of Learning and Evaluation Reforms

Teaching-Learning and Evaluation: 2.1: Admission Process and Student Profile 2.2: Catering to Diverse Needs 2.3: Teaching-Learning Process 2.4: Teacher Quality 2.5: Evaluation Process and Reforms 2.6: Best Practices in Teaching, Learning and Evaluation

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III Research, Consultancy and Extension: 3.1: Promotion of Research 3.2: Research Output 3.3: Publication Output 3.4: Consultancy 3.5: Extension Activities 3.6: Participation in Extension and Linkages

Research, Consultancy and Extension: 3.1: Promotion of Research 3.2: Research and Publication Output 3.3: Consultancy 3.4: Extension Activities 3.5: Collaborations 3.6: Best Practices in Research, Consultancy and Extension

IV Infrastructure and Learning Resources: 4.1: Physical Facilities 4.2: Maintenance of Infrastructure 4.3: Library as a Learning Resource 4.4: Computers as Learning Resources 4.5: Other Facilities

Infrastructure and Learning Resources: 4.1: Physical Facilities for Learning 4.2: Maintenance of Infrastructure 4.3: Library as a Learning Resource 4.4: ICT as Learning Resources 4.5: Other Facilities 4.6: Best Practices in the Development of Infrastructure and Learning Resources

V Student Support and Progression: 5.1: Student Profile 5.2: Student Progression 5.3: Student Support 5.4: Student Activities

Student Support and Progression: 5.1: Student Progression 5.2: Student Support 5.3: Student Activities 5.4: Best Practices in Student Support and Progression

VI Organisation and Management: 6.1: Leadership 6.2: Goal Orientation and Decision-Making 6.3: Organisation Structure 6.4: Powers & Functions of the Functionaries 6.5: Perspective Planning 6.6: Man-power Planning & Recruitment 6.7: Performance Appraisal 6.8: Staff Development Programmes 6.9: Resource Mobilisation 6.10: Finance Management

Governance and Leadership: 6.1: Institutional Vision and Leadership 6.2: Organisational Arrangements 6.3: Strategy Development and Deployment 6.4: Human Resource Management 6.5: Financial Management and Resource Mobilisation 6.6: Best Practices in Governance and Leadership

VII Healthy Practices: 7.1: Total Quality Management 7.2: Innovations 7.3: Value-Based Education 7.4: Social Responsibilities and Citizenship Roles 7.5: Overall Development 7.6: Institutional Ambience and Initiatives

Innovative Practices: 7.1: Internal Quality Assurance System 7.2: Inclusive Practices 7.3: Stakeholder Relationships

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DISTRIBUTION OF WEIGHTS TO CRITERIA : The various sub-criteria including the scope for the Higher Educational Institutions at different levels to influence the key aspects to enhance the quality of education and the related services, the Council has made, in the new system, a few important changes with respect to the weights assigned to broad criteria which is evident from the following comparative Tables 3, 4 & 5. Total weights are same under both the new and the previous system and for all kinds of HEIs (i.e., 1000 points). Table 3 : Comparison of weights Assigned to Different Criteria for Universities(weights) Sl.No Criteria Old System New System

I Curricular Aspect 150 150 II Teaching-Learning and Evaluation 250 250 III Research, Consultancy and Extension 150 200 IV Infrastructure and Learning Resources 150 100 V Student Support & Progression 100 100 VI

Organisation and Management OR Governance and Leadership

100

150

VII Healthy Practices/Innovative Practices 100 50 Total Weights 1000 1000

Table 4 : Comparison of weights Assigned to Different Criteria for Autonomous Colleges (weights) Sl.No Criteria Old System New System

I Curricular Aspect 150 100 II Teaching-Learning and Evaluation 300 350 III Research, Consultancy and Extension 100 150 IV Infrastructure and Learning Resources 150 100 V Student Support & Progression 100 100 VI

Organisation and Management OR Governance and Leadership

100

150

VII Healthy Practices/Innovative Practices 100 50 Total Weights 1000 1000

Table 5 : Comparison of weights Assigned to Different Criteria for Affiliated/ Constituent Colleges (weights) Sl.No Criteria Old System New System

I Curricular Aspect 100 50 II Teaching-Learning and Evaluation 400 450 III Research, Consultancy and Extension 50 100 IV Infrastructure and Learning Resources 150 100 V Student Support & Progression 100 100 VI

Organisation and Management OR Governance and Leadership

100

150

VII Healthy Practices/Innovative Practices 100 50 Total Weights 1000 1000

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From the above Table 5, we find that 450 points are given to Teaching-Learning and Evaluation, out of 1000 points (i.e., 45% of the total weights). Under this criterion, we should concentrate on six sub-criteria (i.e., Admission process and Student profile, Catering to Diverse Needs, Teaching-Learning Process, Teacher Quality, Evaluation Process and Reforms and Best Practices in Teaching, Learning and Evaluation). We also stress on Criteria VI (viz., Governance and Leadership) where the total weights given to that criteria is 150 points. GRADING SYSTEM : As is well known, under the previous system, the Institutions were assessed and accredited on a 9-point scale Grading System based on the overall % of scores. In the new system, the institutions will be Assessed and Accredited on a four-point Letter-grade scale based on the Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) earned by them through the Assessment Process. The procedure of Grading the Institutions, under the New system, is summarized below:

(i) The Institutions will be graded under four categories viz. A, B, C and D, representing Very Good, Good, Satisfactory and Unsatisfactory levels respectively;

(ii) The summated score for all the sub-criteria under a criterion is then computed with appropriate weightage applied to it and Grade Point Average (GPA) is worked out for the criteria;

(iii) The Cumulative Grade Point Average(CGPA) denoting the final Assessment outcome is then computed from the seven GPAs pertaining to the seven criteria;

(iv) Based on the CGPA, Grade(Letter-Grade) will be given to the Institution. Table 6 : Comparison of Grading System under the Previous System and the New System

A. Old Gradation Style:

Institutional Grade Institutional Score(%) [Upper limits exclusive]

A***** ≥75% A**** 70-75 A*** 65-70 A** 60-65 A* 55-60

Criteria wise weightages based on the nature of Institutions:

Units of Assessment Criteria University Affiliated/Constituent

College Autonomous

College Curricular Aspect 15 10 15 Teaching-Learning

and Evaluation 25 40 30

Research, Consultancy and

Extension

15 05 10

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Infrastructure and Learning Resources

15 15 15

Student Support & Progression

10 10 10

Organisation and Management

10 10 10

Healthy Practices 10 10 10 Total 100 100 100

B. Grading system under Old System :

Institutional Score(%) (Upper limit exclusive)

Grade

95-100 A++ 90-95 A+ 85-90 A 80-85 B++ 75-80 B+ 70-75 B 65-70 C++ 60-65 C+ 55-60 C

Below 55: Assessed and Found Not Qualified for Accreditation

C. Grading System under New System :

Cumulative Grade Point

Average(Range)

Letter Grade Performance Descriptor and its

Interpretation 3.01-4.00 A Very Good 2.01-3.00 B Good 1.51-2.00 C Satisfactory ≤1.50 D Unsatisfactory

Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) : Cumulative Grade Point Average(CGPA) system is a standard way of assessing the performance of a student who has enrolled for different courses in an institution. In the case of student assessment, it is the weighted Mean Value of all grade points earned by the candidate for the various courses enrolled during the programme of studies. With reference to the Assessment of Quality in Higher Education Institutions, the cumulative Grade Point Average(CGPA) refers to the weighted Mean Value of all the grade points, earned by the institution, for its quality parameters and quality aspects under consideration. In this context, it has multiple layers of credit point calculations, after applying the respective differential weightages for the different types of institutions as shown in the pyramid below:

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Assessment Indicators Guidelines

The seven criteria are the quality parameters considered in this case. But Assessment is carried out at the Levels of key aspects, using the key-aspect-wise Assessment Indicators as guidelines.

How CGPA is computed for Affiliated/Constituent College? The Assessment indicator guidelines are used for arriving at the Key Aspect Grade points. The Key Aspects under each criterion have their own weightages according to the relative importance of the said key aspect in the context of the type of institution. The grade points assigned to different Key Aspects and Criteria get normalized at two levels, before the final CGPA is calculated for the institution. The CGPA is thus calculated with the application of weightages at two different levels of assessment. Basically there are three steps for computation of Cumulative Grade Point Average- Step-1: Decide on the grade for the Key Aspect under a criterion, based on the Assessment indicator guidelines. Each Key Aspect Grade Point is denoted as Key Aspect One Grade Point (KA1-GP), Key Aspect Two Grade Point(KA2-GP) and so on. Step-2: The summated grade points of all the key Aspects under a criterion is calculated with appropriate weightages and divided by the criterion weightage for the institution, to arrive at the Grade Point Average for the criterion(CR-GPA). Step-3: After calculating the criterion Grade Point Average(CR-GPAs) for all the 7 criteria, the CGPA is calculated for the institution, based on the seven CR-GPAs and the application of the respective weightages as specified for each criterion. The CGPA thus obtained will be the final Institutional Quality Level on a four-point scale. KA1-GP=X 1̄.1

Institutional Cumulative Grade

Point Average(CGPA) on a four-point scale

7 Criterion-Grade Point Average(CR-GPAs)

Criterion-wise key aspect Grades Points(KA-GPs)

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1.101+1.102+1.103+1.104+1.105+1.106+1.107+1.108+1.109 X¯1.1= --------------------------------------------------------------------------- = 3(assumed) 9 In the similar process, we should calculate- KA2-GP= X 1̄.2 = 2

KA3-GP= X 1̄.3 = 4

KA4-GP= X 1̄.4 = 3

KA5-GP= X 1̄.5 = 3

Where, X 1̄.1 is the Grade for Curriculum design & development X 1̄.2 is the Grade for Academic flexibility ……………………… & so on……………... and, 1.101 is the Curriculum design, aligned with the institutional goals and objectives. 1.102 is the Curricula developed/adopted, having relevance to the regional/national development needs. & so on……………… From the above result, we calculate GPA for Curricular Aspects 1(i.e., X1̄) (10 x X 1̄.1)+ (15 x X 1̄.2)+ (10 x X 1̄.3)+ (5 x X 1̄.4)+ (10 x X 1̄.5) X¯1 = -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10+15+10+5+10 (10 x 3)+(15 x 2)+(10 x 4)+(5 x 3)+(10 x 3) = ------------------------------------------------------ 50 30+30+40+15+30 = ----------------------- 50 145 = ----- = 2.9 50 Now, we calculate X2̄.1 = KA1-GP Where, X 2̄.1 is the Grade for Admission Process and Student Profile

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X 2̄.2 is the Grade for catering to diverse needs ……………………… & so on……………... and, 2.101 is the wide publicity and transparency in the admission process 2.102 is the Admission Process, systematically administered and based on predetermined criteria & so on……………… Therefore, X2̄.1 = 2 (assumed) X2̄.2 = 3 X2̄.3 = 4 X2̄.4 = 4 X2̄.5 = 3 X2̄.6 = 3 From the above result, we calculate GPA for Curricular Aspects 2 (i.e., X2̄) (30 x 2)+(45 x 3)+(270 x 4)+(65 x 4)+(30 x 3)+(10 x 3) X¯2 = -------------------------------------------------------------------- 30+45+270+65+30+10 60+135+1080+260+90+30 = ---------------------------------- 450 1655 = ------ = 3.677 ≈ 3.7 450 By using above formula, we also calculate GPA for Curricular Aspects 3 (i.e., X¯3 ) = 3.4 GPA for Curricular Aspects 4 (i.e., X¯4 ) = 2.8

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GPA for Curricular Aspects 5 (i.e., X¯5 ) = 3.1 GPA for Curricular Aspects 6 (i.e., X¯6 ) = 2.9 GPA for Curricular Aspects 7 (i.e., X¯7 ) = 3.3 Now we go for Step 3, the calculation of CGPA on the basis of above results. The CGPA for the Affiliated/Constituent College will be : (50 x 2.9)+(450 x 3.7)+(100 x 3.4)+(100 x 2.8)+(100 x 3.1)+(150 x 2.9)+(50 x 3.3) = ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 50+450+100+100+100+150+50 145+1665+340+280+310+435+165 = ------------------------------------------ 1000 3340 = ------- = 3.34 1000 3.34 is the overall CGPA for the Affiliated/Constituent College with the Performance descriptor “Very Good” and the Letter Grade is “A”. The overall Grade and the CGPA will be given to each institution as indicated below-

Range of Institutional CGPA

Letter Grade Performance Descriptor

3.01-4.00 A Very Good (Accredited)

2.01-3.00 B Good (Accredited)

1.51-2.00 C Satisfactory (Accredited)

≤1.50 D Unsatisfactory (Not Accredited)

According to NAAC : “Excellence is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution”. Source : www.ugc.ac.in

39

QUALITY ASSURANCE IN TEACHING, LEARNING AND EXAMINATION SYSTEM : CHALLENGES AND STRATEGIES

Pramila Majhi

Lecturer in Education Vivekananda Mahavidyalaya, Haripal

The universities and colleges are encouraged to establish INTERNAL QUALITY ASSURANCE CELLS and go through the ASSESSMENT and ACCREDITATION PROCESS. In that sense all the five-year plans have stressed the need for improvements in quality of teaching and Research. In the 11th plan, for instance, the issue of quality improvement would be addressed through the “modernization of syllabus, increased research, networking of Universities and departments and increased allocation of Funds.” So initiatives are taken to encourage the institutions to adapt to Modern Methods of teaching and learning, develop learner friendly teaching materials, and change their Examination system and evaluation method by means of which internal quality can be maintained. QUALITY ASSURANCE IN TEACHING Teaching refers to activities that are designed and performed by the teacher to produce desired changes in pupil's behavior. To bring desirable changes in pupils behavior, teaching activities should be followed by certain modernized and systematic plan and procedure for improving it's quality and making it successful. So to assure quality in teaching, following points are to be taken consideration. (1) In modern view, teaching should be democratic in nature, in which a teacher teaches his

students according to their needs, interests, abilities and feelings and a free interaction between the teacher and learners is seen in the class i.e., both are equally active in the class and influence each other.

(2) In teaching process a teacher should go through the three phases of teaching such as (i) Pre-active phase (ii) Interactive phase and (iii) Post-active phase.

Pre-active phase is exclusively related to the analysis of the teaching task at the time of planning. In this phase teacher prepares himself by preparing lesson plans before entering to the class. In interactive phase of teaching, activities are done by the teacher after entering the class. These activities are done according to the pre-active phase. Some modifications are, however, allowed if need arises. Teacher comes to the post active phase when teaching tasks is over, here he asks written on anal questions in order to measure the changes in the behavior of teachers. Only after the evaluation, the teacher comes to know whether the objectives are achieved or not. (3) Teaching affects learning directly and indirectly both Learning depends on the level of

teaching of the teacher. What a teacher wants to make his students by his teaching depends on what the objectives of his teaching are? It means that as soon as level of teaching changes, its objectives and way of attack also change and evaluation of students also changes accordingly. Educators have determined three levels of teaching and a teacher selects these levels according to the ability and mental levels of students.

i) Memory level of teaching ii) Understanding level of teaching, and iii) Reflective level of teaching. All these three levels of teaching can be arrived at either in one period or it may take several periods to reach all these levels. (4) Teacher should follow the principles of teaching or maxims of teaching at the time of

teaching-learning process.

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(5) Teaching of any teacher can be improved by drilling different strategies, techniques and core of teaching skills. Many teaching skills and techniques have been developed by the science of educational technology in order to transform teaching from art to science. Such as - (i) Micro-teaching (ii) Programmed instruction (iii) Teaching skills in set induction, stimulus variation, provoking questions, illustrating with examples, lecture, skill of explaining, use of Black Board, Audio-visual aids, skill of class management, skill of increasing pupil's participation, recognizing attending behavior. Silence and non-verbal cues, fluency of questioning, skill in giving assignment and planned revision and repetition and (iv) Use of different types of teaching models.

If a teacher is sincere to these things, his teaching is must likely to be best effective and successful. QUALITY ASSURANCE IN LEARNING Teaching at higher education essentially means acquiring knowledge, generating new knowledge and adding to the existing knowledge and also transmitting knowledge which implies learning. In other words, learning is the process by which relatively prevent change in behavior occurs as a result of practice, training and experience. In modern time to assure quality in learning, different factors and principles should be given importance. a) Environment and heredity (because learning is the product of heredity and environment). b) Adequate practice and training. c) Learning should be made meaningful & purposeful. d) Strength of connection between Stimulus and response. e) Learning should be satisfying.

We know that, learning takes both formally and informally. Human being acquires knowledge and develops his skill by coming into contact with different agencies like home, school, society, mass media etc. In college and university also the students learn by interacting with teachers, classmates, equipments, chemicals and other such components that are designed purposively to cause students learning. This type of learning generally happen in a formal way and, therefore many experts called it as formal learning. School, college, or formal agencies are not only source of imparting knowledge rather individual acquires vast amount of knowledge in his lifetime from society or from informal agencies. Hence both formal and informal knowledge greatly help in changing the behavior of the learner.

Individuals learn informally. So environment of the institution should be arranged in such a manner, which helps to bring socially desirable change in students' behavior. Learning in an individual does not take place in isolation. The individual interacts with one or more components in the environment, which results in learning. Let us now examine this process of learning on more detail:

41

Individual learns many things through the interaction. While he learns many new things from his elders'; his elders also learn by interacting with the younger one. Hence, when an individual interacts with another individual in his environment and learns, for the second individual, the first one is part of the environment. Primary objectives of higher education is to make the students reach the frontier of knowledge. Therefore, teaching them is the main job of teachers of higher education. The universities and colleges, therefore, have different instructional process involving different materials, styles approaches etc. These processes should be developed by teachers themselves to make the students learn. To make the students learn in a better way, there is a need of materials, gadgets, personnel, time, and space etc. The scientific arrangement of all these components in proper order and their implementation only will cause effective learning and for the better learning, the student learning should be evaluated based on (i) the student's understanding and internalization of instructional objectives as laid down on the academic curricula (ii) Grasping of the fundamentals and their application to the practical situations. (iii) Development of analytical and reasoning approaches in the understanding of the social realities and finding effective solutions.

Evaluation in the teaching-learning process

Evaluation is an integral feature of education from the point of both student and teacher. Evaluation as an on going process ensure (i) quality of service to the institution as well as students; (ii) Provide students as well as teachers with a direction in their own educational and professional development, (iii) Provide inputs for grading a student and teacher's performance and (iv) answer the questions that, to what extent educational objectives have been achieved. In other words, educational evaluation implies that it is a systematic process of collection organization and interpretation of data to know the extent to which educational objectives have been achieved. It is a process of collecting information on the basis of which judgments are formed, which in turn is used for taking decisions. Therefore, three phases of evaluation are - i) Information gathering (about achievements, competencies developed, instructional objectives etc.) ii) Forming judgments (about attainment of level in terms of intended learning outcomes etc.) iii) Making decisions (about remedial teaching, grading, promotion, certification etc.) But these phases are consisting of so many defects for which evaluation systems face a great challenge.

Challenges in Evaluation System Examination is a sub system in a wider system of evaluation, which measures both

qualitative as well as quantitative aspects of a young human mind. It reflects the changes that take place in different domains (cognitive affective, psychomotor) of one’s personality as a result of a structured instruction. Examination is a process of collecting evidences about students' achievement. It involved planning, Construction of instruments, administration, scoring of scripts, compilation of results etc. Thus examination process included in the first phase of evaluation is concerned with obtaining of formation. But information obtained through the process is not completely right.

Now-a-days it is a great challenge before the nation. Various educators and education commissions appointed by the Govt. of India have pointed out the defects that exist in the present day examination systems in our Universities. Some of these are briefly summarized below:

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i) According to the Secondary education commission “The present system of examination does not test anything except memory and certain kind of verbal felicity”. The dominance of the final end of the year examination gives the impression to students that they do not have to study through out the year. There is no continuous assessment which demand diagnostic and formative testing. Hence, many students cram in the last month of the academic year with a certain content area of the syllabus on which the questions are likely to be asked.

ii) Most of the questions asked in these examinations do not represent the higher-level instructional objectives of the curriculum. iii) In most university examinations, English is the dominant medium of expression. Students, whose mother tongue is different, find it difficult to express their thoughts and feelings in English, even if they have understood the concepts and mastered the content of the subject. Besides these, here are some other ongoing problems noted below those are frequently occurred from nursery to university level. � Leakage of question papers. � Cancellation and shifting the dates of examination. � Unfair means of conducting examinations. � Unfair involvement of the staffs. � Lack of standard question papers. � Unscientific techniques of evaluation and tabulation. � Unfair way of declaring results/ certifying the students/ awarding degrees.

The most deplorable aspect of the matter is that students, parents and teachers are only concerned with examination marks and not with the means by which the marks are obtained. This accounts, use of unethical and unfair means like mass copying, individual copying, impersonation, fake degrees etc. and also paying of handsome price to the invigilators, centre superintendent and flying squad members. It is surprising to note that when all the strategies fail they use their muscle power to capture and threaten the invigilators.

There is a common saying; existing system of evaluation of suffering with serious maladies. By presenting the clear-cut picture on drawback in present evaluation system, the committee of examination appointed by CABE, Ministry of Education and Social Welfare outlined that “learners” evaluation is a process of collecting, analyzing and interpreting evidences to judge the level of achievement acquired by an individual learner on a group of learners in all areas of domain. But truly, the present system does not provide any scope for the application of multiple techniques of assessment of the learner's potential in more valid and reliable ways. Besides this, the current practices of terminal examinations, semester system, home evaluation of M.Phil, Ph.D. work, suffer a lot of discrepancies caused due to a variety of errors. Another significant challenge before us is the selection of right evaluators. It is obviously observed inter and intra examiner variability with respect to time, situation mental setup, environment etc. Besides this, imperfection of tools, sampling of contents, sampling of objectives within the content, arbitrary or very less time limits for answering individual questions, testing situations affect a lot to the evaluation system.

Strategies for Quality Assurance in Examination and Evaluation System.

Followings are some of the suggested statements which may be taken care of for maintaining the quality in Examination and evaluation system— • Improving questions by making them specific in terms of objectives content and language

along with appropriate weightage to objectives, content areas. • Improving scoring procedures by developing scoring keys, marking scheme with suitable

instructions to examiners.

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• Expanding the techniques of evaluation to continuous-comprehensive evaluation (internal as well as external)

• Continuous internal assessment is the way to make learning more interesting and creative. So continuous internal assessment should be introduced for improving the quality of evaluation.

• Framing suitable rules for admission rules for admission to an examination. • Appointing appropriate paper setters with right qualification and experience. • Developing scientific mechanism for conducting smooth examination.

For this, some steps should be taken before, during and after the commencement of examination.

• Secrecy should be maintained regarding setting, printing, stocking, mailing of question papers.

• To minimize impersonation, stress should be on admit card along with photograph and request for centre change should be discouraged.

• To overcome the chances of malpractices, strict instruction should be given to reach at least 15 minutes before the commencement of examination, so that mass checking could be possible.

• Quality can be assured and maintained in teaching-learning and evaluation process by following these proper strategies, which will be able to help to meet the challenges and improve quality of higher education.

• The seating arrangement and invigilators schedule at the exam halls- should be frequently changed.

• Strict instructions should be given to the both examinees and invigilators regarding their work during the examination hours.

• External observers and flying squads should be appointed for each exam centre. • Coding and decoding of answer papers should be done on confidentially.

After completion of all the evaluation works, suitable methods should be adopted for declaring of results and issues of certificates. There should be provision for re-evaluation and rechecking and also provision for supplying Xerox-evaluated answer papers to the candidates. References 1. Gronlund, N.E. (1971), Measurement and evaluation. 2. Vemal, L.(2004) Questioning as a communication tool for pedagogly, University News,

New Delhi, Vol.42, No.-21, May 24-30 3. Sharma, M.C.(2006), Instruction in Higher Education, Maidan Garhi, New Delhi. 4. Ansari, M.S.(2009), Educational technology (UGC NET Guide) Ramesh Publishing

House, New Delhi.

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UGC SPONSORED STATE LEVEL ONE DAY SEMINAR ‘‘Impact of Assessment & Accreditation by NAAC on C ollege Education’’

LIST OF DELEGATES

Sl. No Name & Institution Sl.

No. Name & Institution

1. Dr. Durgaprasanna Mukherjee Raja Rammohan Roy Mahavidyalaya Radhanagar, Hooghly

17. Binod Sarkar Arambagh Girls’ College Arambagh, Hooghly

2. Mr. Nabakumar Karmakar Sarat Centenary College Dhaniakhali, Hooghly

18. Subhasis Chakraborty Arambagh Girls’ College Arambagh, Hooghly

3. Pronab Kumar Mahalder Madhurpur High School, Madhorpur, Hooghly

19. Ananya Bardhan Arambagh Girls’ College Arambagh, Hooghly

4. Pradip Kumar Chakraborty Vivekananda Mahavidyalaya Haripal, Hooghly

20. Sanjay Kumar Santra Raja Rammohan Roy Mahavidyalaya Radhanagar, Hooghly

5. Saktiman Sinha Roy Raja Rammohan Roy Mahavidyalaya Radhanagar, Hooghly

21. Hemanta Saha Suri Vidyasagar College Suri

6. Mithu Roy Rabindra Mahavidyalaya Champadanga, Hooghly

22. Dilip Kumar Nandi A.K.P.C. Mahavidyalaya Bengai, Hooghly

7. Rajkumar Modak A.K.P.C. Mahavidyalaya Bengai, Hooghly

23. Dr. Som Sankar Sen Rabindra Mahavidyalaya Champadanga, Hooghly

8. Ashoke Krishna Chatterjee Kabi Sukanta Mahavidyalaya Bhadreswar, Hooghly

24. Pramila Majhi Vivekananda Mahavidyalaya Haripal, Hooghly

9. S. Goswami Research Scholar Burdwan University

25. Dipankar Biswas Kabi Kankan Mukundaram Mahavidyalaya, Keshabpur, Hooghly

10. Bhim Rajak A.K.P.C. Mahavidyalaya Bengai, Hooghly

26. Malabika Bhowmick Sri Ramkrishna Sarada Sikshamandir (B.Ed. College) Anur, Hooghly

11. Dr. Ashish Kar Bengai, Hooghly

27. Anindita Dasgupta Sri Ramkrishna Sarada Vidya Mahapitha Kamarpukur, Hooghly

12. Krishna Bag Kabindra Mahavidyalaya 28.

Soma Ghosal Sri Ramkrishna Sarada Vidya Mahapitha Kamarpukur, Hooghly

13. Dr. Nirmalya Sen Sharma A.K.P.C. Mahavidyalaya Bengai, Hooghly

29. Biva Bhattacharya Sri Ramkrishna Sarada Sikshamandir (B.Ed. College) Anur, Hooghly

14. Debnarayan Saha Raja Rammohan Roy Mahavidyalaya Radhanagar, Hooghly

30. Jayanto Ghosh Sri Ramkrishna Sarada Vidya Mahapitha Kamarpukur, Hooghly

15. Sudeshna Biswas Arambagh Girls’ College Arambagh, Hooghly

31. Pradip Kr. Mukhopadhyay Vivekananda Mahavidyalaya Haripal, Hooghly

16. Anuradha Mazumder Arambagh Girls’ College Arambagh, Hooghly

32. Sampad Chowdhuri Vivekananda Mahavidyalaya Haripal, Hooghly

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Sl. No Name & Institution Sl.

No. Name & Institution

33. Dr. Bipradas Nandi AKPC Mahavidyalaya Bengai, Hooghly

58 Rajarshi Ghosh Vivekananda Mahavidyalaya Haripal, Hooghly

34. Mr. Subhra Das Vivekananda Mahavidyalaya Haripal, Hooghly

59 Susobhan Sinha Roy Vivekananda Mahavidyalaya Haripal, Hooghly

35. Jhumpa Datta Vivekananda Mahavidyalaya Haripal, Hooghly

60 Nanda Kr. Pakhira Kabikankan Mukundram Mahavidyalaya Keshabpur, Hooghly

36. Tapasi Das Vivekananda Mahavidyalaya Haripal, Hooghly

61 Ayan Kanti Ghosh Vivekananda Mahavidyalaya Haripal, Hooghly

37. Mitra Sarkar Vivekananda Mahavidyalaya Haripal, Hooghly

62 Abhijit Chakraborti Global Institute of Engineering & Management

38. Dipankar Samanta Vivekananda Mahavidyalaya Haripal, Hooghly

63 Subhendu Kundu Nabagram Hiralal Paul College

39. Prosenjit Sasmal Vivekananda Mahavidyalaya, Haripal 64

Smt. Samarpita Ghosh Tarakeswar Degree College

40. Dr. Amal Kanta Hati Tarakeswar Degree College

65 Sri Saptarshi Chakraborty Tarakeswar Degree College

41 Shri Harendra Nath Kole Tarakeswar Degree College

66 Shri Chandan Kumar Maity Tarakeswar Degree College

42 Dr.Tapan Kumar Ghosh Tarakeswar Degree College

67 Shri Animesh Pan Tarakeswar Degree College

43 Md. Shanawaz Tarakeswar Degree College

68 Shri Sourav Ghosh Tarakeswar Degree College

44 Smt. Arundhati Moulik (Roy) Tarakeswar Degree College

69 Shri Asit Mukherjee Tarakeswar Degree College

45 Smt. Rama Nag (De) Tarakeswar Degree College 70

Jamal Akhtar Tarakeswar Degree College

46 Shri Suvro Sarkar Tarakeswar Degree College

71 Smt. Asma Khatun Tarakeswar Degree College

47 Dr. Sonali Mukherjee Tarakeswar Degree College

72 Smt. Sunita Guha Tarakeswar Degree College

48 Dr. Ratanlal Bhowmik Tarakeswar Degree College

73 Smt. Joyasri Ghosh Tarakeswar Degree College

49 Smt. Soma Saha Tarakeswar Degree College

74 Smt. Sanjukta Halder Tarakeswar Degree College

50 Dr. Sutanuka Ghosh Roy Tarakeswar Degree College 75

Smt. Swati Rakshit Tarakeswar Degree College

51 Shri Nirmal Chattopadhyay Tarakeswar Degree College

76 Smt Sayani Bhattacharya Tarakeswar Degree College

52 Shri Soumen Mukhopadhyay Tarakeswar Degree College

77 Smt. Dola Pal Tarakeswar Degree College

53 Shri Netai Chandra Mondal Tarakeswar Degree College

78 Smt. Nita Banerjee Tarakeswar Degree College

54 Smt Mahua Ahiri Tarakeswar Degree College

79 Smt. Srabani Sen Tarakeswar Degree College

55 Smt Mahua De Tarakeswar Degree College

80 Sd. Sha Taukirul Islam Tarakeswar Degree College

56 Shri Abhisek Bhattacharya Tarakeswar Degree College 81

Shri Palash Kumar Das Tarakeswar Degree College

57 Shri Subhrasri Bera Tarakeswar Degree College

82 Smt Munmun Bag Tarakeswar Degree College

46

Sl. No Name & Institution Sl.

No. Name & Institution

83 Shri Asit Kumar Manna Tarakeswar Degree College

99 Sri Asim Pal Tarakeswar Degree College

84 Shri Surajit Sengupta Tarakeswar Degree College 100

Sri Haradhan Kundu Tarakeswar Degree College

85 Shri Rajdip Sil Tarakeswar Degree College 101

Sri Khakan Haldar Tarakeswar Degree College

86 Shri Jyotirmoy Mazumdar Tarakeswar Degree College

102 Sri Nepal Adhikari Tarakeswar Degree College

87 Sri Tarak Nath Chattopadhyay Tarakeswar Degree College

103 Sri Taraknath Maji Tarakeswar Degree College

88 Sri Golok Ch. Mete Tarakeswar Degree College

104 Sk. Golam Mashuk Mondal, Student Tarakeswar Degree College

89 Sri Sukumar Puley Tarakeswar Degree College

105 Priyabrata Dey, Student Tarakeswar Degree College

90 Sri Krishna Mohan Das Tarakeswar Degree College

106 Sangita Saha, Student Tarakeswar Degree College

91 Sri Kashi Nath Dhara Tarakeswar Degree College

107 Animesh Das, Student Tarakeswar Degree College

92 Sri Sasanka Sekhar Bera Tarakeswar Degree College

108 Pritam Guchhait, Student Tarakeswar Degree College

93 Sri Ananta Kumar Malik Tarakeswar Degree College

109 Sayan Patra, Student Tarakeswar Degree College

94 Sri Shyamal Ch. Pakhira Tarakeswar Degree College

110 Samik Mondal, Student Tarakeswar Degree College

95 Sri Swapan Kumar Shaw Tarakeswar Degree College

111 Kuntal Chakraborty, Student Tarakeswar Degree College

96 Sri Shyam Rout Tarakeswar Degree College

112 Subhajit Dolui , Student Tarakeswar Degree College

97 Sri Saumya Mallik Tarakeswar Degree College

113 Pinaki Roy , Student Tarakeswar Degree College

98 Smt. Sikha Ghorui Tarakeswar Degree College