BACKGROUND
The world has now become practically a global village. Through internet one can access the far most corner of the world. It has become obligatory for institutions of higher education to design and deliver effective academic programs of such a quality that the product or their graduates get hands on and compete in every nook and corner of the world. This has led the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to develop methods for assessing the quality of academic programs. In the very beginning of the HEC, the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) , therefore, decided in the NQAC meeting that Quality Enhancement Cells will be established at all universities to strengthen the internal quality assurance process with a special focus on quality of higher education to fill the gap between the prevailing and the desired status of quality education.
INTRODUCTION
In the Medium Term Development Framework (MTDF), it was identified that quality of higher education has to be improved. Therefore, to enhance the quality of output and efficiency of the higher education learning systems, a mechanism of establishment of QECs has been developed by the Quality Assurance Committee to improve the standards of quality of higher education in a systematic way with uniformity across the country. Quality is the means through which an institution can guarantee with confidence and certainty that the standards of its educational provision are being maintained and enhanced (Quality Assurance Agency, UK). Quality in higher education is the most important part which is the outcome of interaction among many factors i.e. leadership, quality of faculty and students, infrastructure facilities, research& learning environment, governance, strategic planning, assessment procedures and market force.
Making Assessment Reports
Self Assessment Report is the major function of QEC which helps the Head of the departments in knowing the weak areas of their departments which hinder the performance of their departments/Institutions. It is based on 31 standards on the basis of which departments are assessed against the available resources and infrastructure and quality education. QEC, KUST has completed the SAR of departments of Microbiology, Biotechnology, English and IIT.
Self Assessment Reports were further assessed by the Assessment Team and reports were presented to the Vice Chancellor. On the basis of mentioned weaknesses VC, KUST took very supporting decisions to enhance the standard of education. The implementation plans were prepared by head of the departments and special resources were approved on the basis of implementation plan for remedial actions.
Assessment reports of other departments and institutions are in progress by respective focal persons.
Surveys:
There are ten proformas of surveys which are filled by the students and faculty to receive the feedback for further improvement. Teachers Evaluation survey is conducted in every semester from the students of all programs on teachers Evaluation form. The results are compiled and summary of feedback is given to faculty members for their further improvement. The students course Evaluation Questionnaire Survey has also been conducted and feedback is compiled to update the courses. Graduating Students Survey and Alumni Survey are also conducted and feedback of the students is communicated and mentioned in the Self Assessment Report.
Workshops Organized
For the orientation and implementation of Quality Assurance procedures, workshops have also been organized by QEC KUST according to the need of the time.
The Quality Enhancement Cell of Kohat University of Science & Technology has organized training sessions on December 16, 2011 with the collaboration of Intellectual Property Organization (IPO) Pakistan titled Awareness Sessions of Intellectual Property Academy (IPA) for Ph. D faculty and Research Students.
Regarding the criteria devised by QAA, QEC organized 1 Day workshop on Developing Mission, Objectives and Outcomes on October 10, 2012. Mr. Sarfaraz Ahmad Pirzada from COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT) and Dr. Rashid Ahmad, Chairman Department of Physics, KUST were the resource persons of the event.
In the short period of time, QEC also organized 1 Day workshop on Assessment of Academic Programs on December 18, 2012. Prof. Dr. Farman Ullah Director, Quality Enhancement Cell Agriculture University, Peshawar was the resource person of the workshop. The event was organized for the purpose to train the Assessment Team members to assess the academic programs.
QEC organized a video conference on Plagiarism Detection on May 30, 2013 to teach the faculty members about the use of plagiarism software. Mr. Munir Ahmad, Deputy Director, QAA was the resource person of the event.
Recently Asia Bukhari Dy. Director QEC, Khyber Medical University was invited for work shop to train faculty/Program Team Members for developing SARs for their departments in April, 2018.
Meetings/ Workshops Attended
In a period of two years, QEC, KUST has assured its presence in all the Pakistan universities QEC, s meetings organized by QAA, HEC from time to time.
QEC also participated in two day workshop, organized by University of Management and Technology (UMT), Lahore on March 28-29, 2012 with collaboration of Pakistan Academy of Sciences (PAS), Islamabad.
QEC also represented Kohat University of Sciences & Technology while attended training session regarding Quality Based Ranking of HEIs at HEC Regional Center, Peshawar on August 28, 2012.
Regarding the preparation of Business Plan, QEC attended training session at HEC, Islamabad on 21th -22th Nov, 2012.
Assistant Director, QEC attended an event titled Celebration of World Quality Day at Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad on 21st December, 2012. The theme of the event was to raise the voice of quality in higher education sector.
The Director QEC KUST attended Progress review meeting & training for quality enhancement cells organized by QAA of HEC on 28-29th March, 2018.
The Director QEC attended 2nd National level seminar on “Promoting Quality Culture in HEIs” organized by the Directorate of QA&E of University of Wah.
The QEC KUST participated in national workshop on UI Green Metric world university ranking-2018 at HEC, Islamabad on July 09, 2018.
Data Collection
Data Collection and its provision to the national and International organization are also done by the Quality Enhancement Cell, KUST. So far data has been provided to the following organizations.
University Statistics of all KUST departments to Higher Education Commission since 2001-2010.
Provided data regarding Quality Based Ranking of HEIs for the period of 2011-2012 to the DG, QAA.
Data to Organization of Islamic Countries. (OIC).Data to Pakistan Council for Science and Technology. Data to Times Higher Education London.