Internal Quality Assurance Cell is a centralised function of the University to assess programmatic and administrative quality through data-driven analytics. IQAC also undertakes initiatives to highlight and broadcast best practices across the different Schools, Functions and Activities of the University. IQAC also functions as a single-point clearing house for accreditation of the University and its programmes by various national and internal accreditation agencies.

Regulatory & Institutional Compliance

Vision

What we do?

Internal Quality Assurance Cell is a single-point mechanism to design, implement, monitor and assess quality enhancement initiatives across the University. The IQAC works in close collaboration with several activities and functions of the University, especially, the Career Development Centre, Centre for Learning Futures, VentureStudio, Office of Admissions and Financial Aid, besides the Offices of the Dean of Students, and Planning and Strategic Initiatives.

IQAC collects and analyses data on metrics and parameters that index the robustness of academic practices at the University. It also conducts workshops and training sessions on quality assurance in the University.

How we work?

IQAC has dedicated staff who maintain a dynamic and updated database of facts and figures pertaining to the University. IQAC has an advisory committee comprising senior faculty and staff, who advise on the nature and function of the initiatives of IQAC.

Our Strategy

Ahmedabad University has automated the data management for all of its functions. The admissions office, finances, course development, course registration, classroom and learning management, assessment and evaluation, as also human resources functions are all on modular and inter-operable digital systems. IQAC harnesses data from these systems and is in the process of building analytics to extract information from this data which will aid in better design and strategy.

Initiatives

Academic Quality Initiatives

Learning Coalition

The Learning Coalition is a faculty-driven activity to reflect on and to advance our own practice of project based learning and experiential learning courses, and ensure alignment between course objectives, outcomes, pedagogy and assessment. It is also an opportunity for faculty to develop new courses collaboratively and seek feedback on the curricula they have developed.

Undergraduate Learning Competency Survey

IQAC conducts an annual, longitudinal survey of learning competency of students. This is an anonymous test to assess competency averages across student batches and programmes. The data and the analysis we generate serves as a pointer for programme-level improvements and signaling to potential employers.

Course Files

Ahmedabad University has instituted a new system of archiving Course Files. These are comprehensive archives of all the details pertaining to a course, including the curricular content, teaching notes, evaluation data, student assignments where relevant, and related information, which allows anyone teaching a similar course in the future or any other course, to use this as a resource both from the pedagogic point of view as much as the substantive, content-related point. These Course Files are digitally stored and can be accessed through appropriate sign-in credentials by the faculty members.

Teaching Resources

Students and faculty can access a range of online resources and consultative help. Apart from being an information source, the website provides tips for teachers based on inputs from members of the teaching community at Ahmedabad University on different aspects of teaching.

Experiments in Learning

This project documents a wide range of pedagogic experiments at Ahmedabad University that focus on innovative and novel forms of learning. Along with providing a description of such experiments, the project also aims to create a repository of effective pedagogic experiments that can enrich the educational experiences of both students and instructors.

Language Competency

We mooted the idea of a dedicated centre for paying attention to learning challenges and reading and writing deficits in students. This resulted in the setting up of Centre for Learning Futures, a dedicated academic skills centre. The Centre for Learning Futures (CLeF) designs and implements initiatives to support teaching and learning in the University. The Centre offers courses in academic reading and writing, and workshops in study skills and other initiatives including:

• Writers' Studio

  Writers’ Studio is a consultancy service offered to both students and faculty to get their term-papers, theses and research papers improved from the point of view of presentation, brevity and readability. The Studio works with students to improve the quality of their written output, rather than offer a complete text-editing service.

• General Skills Assessment

  Ahmedabad University conducts a General Skills Assessment test to assess English, Mathematics and Computer competencies of the incoming batch every year. The students are places in relevant courses based on the test results to upgrade their skills.

• Language Lab

  Language Lab is a unique English learning programme that prepares the participant to communicate in English with clarity and confidence. The digital course offers the best in terms of continuous evaluation, content, teaching expertise and methodology with a dedicated computer language lab space.

Administrative Quality Initiatives

English Language Training Programme

IQAC introduced a programme to align and provide seamless and most effective support to the stakeholders of the University. The staff undergoes a diagnostic activity entailing listening and spoken prior to the training through classroom learning techniques conducted over a period of 60-80 hours. The programme focuses on comprehension ability, structure of sentences and grammar fluency, vocabulary enhancement and writing professional emails and documents

Ahmedabad University Process Document Management

IQAC recommended a more systematic and robust process to continuously update and strengthen our process and policy documentation process. A Repository of process, policies and guidelines along with recording of their approval status and common format with indexing and versioning was created to put the process in place. The documentation is being regularly updated to reflect the needs of a growing University. The documentation helps in keeping track of updated documents, approval process etc.

People