Internal Quality Assurance Cell

In order to improve the quality of education in higher educational centres the NAAC has proposed all accredited higher educational institutions to form Internal Quality Assurance Cells (IQAC) to monitor the quality improvement initiatives of the institution. This is to ensure that the long-term objectives of the institution are fulfilled in a time-bound manner.

Vision

The Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) of Sacred Heart College, Thevara addresses and monitors the quality parameters of the college and ensures that the standards of excellence reflected in the  vision and mission of the college are met and sustained.

Mission

To ensure and sustain quality, integrity and output.

Cultivate, enhance and disseminate knowledge by facilitating the required resources in time to excel in academic and professional pursuits.

Graduate Attributes

• Faith in God and faith in oneself
• Physical and mental fitness
• Self-awareness and emotional intelligence
• Intercultural and ethical competency evidenced through a readiness to serve humanity (SH) & planet
• Critical thinking, problem solving and research aptitude
• Deep discipline knowledge
• Readiness to take the first step (leadership)
• Teamwork and communication skills (career readiness)

Objectives 

• Coordinate quality-related activities by developing an organised methodology of documentation and internal communication
• Integrating the activities of the College to ensure adoption and dissemination of good practices.
• Spearheading the conduct of internal and external Academic Audits of departments to promote quality, accountability and transparency.
• Creating and maintaining a system of feedback on processes and policies of the College from stakeholders.
• Initiating and coordinating the process of restructuring the syllabus to create a progressive curriculum that is in tune with the demands of the time.
• Preparing the Annual Quality Assurance Report (AQAR) as per NAAC guidelines

Functions

• Undertaking the role of a nodal agency for setting and applying quality parameters for various academic and administrative activities in the institution
• Providing the environment for a learner-centric education by participatory teaching and learning constructive for quality education
• Ensuring that the quality of education offered is effective , efficient and in need with the time
• Coordinating special programmes for advancing the career prospects of the faculty members and enhancing their competencies
• Spearheading the conduct of internal and external academic audits of the departments to promote accountability, quality and transparency.
• Organizing workshops, seminars and conferences for the proliferation and sharing of knowledge on significant themes and contemporary issues
• Documenting the progress and setting up of various programmes/activities conducted in the institution
• Establishing procedures and modalities to collect data and information on the various aspects of the functioning of the institution and progress of its students
• Coordinating the process of restructuring the syllabi of various programmes to ensure a progressive curriculum in tune with the demands of the time
• Organizing special programs for advanced learners and slow learners to motivate them in academic performances and to provide better opportunities to develop their skills
• Maintaining the credibility of evaluation procedures and ensuring timely declaration of results.
• Developing and managing the institutional database with the principle of quality maintenance
• Collaborating and networking with various national and international institutions and industries
• Drafting and submitting the Annual Quality Assurance Report (AQAR) as per the guidelines prescribed by NAAC
• Maintaining an effective feedback system from students, parents and stakeholders on the progress of the institution

Quality Policy

Sacred Heart College aims at creation of an ‘enlightened society’ through ‘the pursuit of wisdom with a righteous heart’ (Cor Rectum Inquirit Scientiam) after the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

For this, the Management and the staff are committed to providing a holistic education to the students through an empowering process of participation of various stakeholders in adequate measure.

The efforts will be to orientate entire teaching-learning-evaluation process as linked to the goals of higher education, national goals and the core values of the college as spelt out in its vision and mission. Towards attaining this college shall adopt OBE (outcome based education) by 2021. Quality policy envisages that the prescribed syllabus is covered in time, with adequate stress on skill development and societal application through an enabling inter-disciplinary teaching-learning environment having its foundation on the twin principles of faith in God with due respect for all (faiths) and a spirit of enquiry.

The process of learning is intended to instill in the academic community a concern for knowledge beyond boundaries and a concern for planet and people.

As part of the quality policy, there shall be a provision to receive suggestions (suggestion box, digital suggestion box) and redress grievances.  Complaints regarding facilities can be registered with the College office.

Complaints regarding facilities shall be dealt with in a matter of one week, and grievances shall be addressed without delay, through the established channel.

As part of the quality policy, there shall be a students’ charter, which the authorities shall strive to fulfill.

STRATEGIES

• Ensuring updated and optimum methods of teaching, learning and evaluation
• Disseminating knowledge and research in the academia
• Fostering global competencies among students
• Contributing to national development
• Facilitating ICT enabled platforms with increased options and resources for learning and infrastructure facilities
• Guaranteeing access and affordability of various academic programmes to different sections of the society

NAAC

Over the years, the SH college has established itself a frontrunner in the quest for excellence, both in the academic and co-curricular fields. In the year 2000, the college was accredited by the National Accreditation and Assessment Council (NAAC) at the Five Star level, and in 2013 it was reaccredited at the A level.

NIRF

Sacred Heart College has been participating in the ranking process by National Institutional Ranking Framework for the last three years.

INDIA TODAY

Sacred Heart College was ranked in top 50 colleges by the surveys conducted by the India Today Magazine for years.

THE WEEK

Sacred Heart College was ranked in top 50 colleges by the surveys conducted by the The Week Magazine for years.

Best Practice I: Service Learning

The mission statement of Sacred Heart College emphasises four core values – holistic development, nation building, progress of  humanity, and the dissemination of knowledge. With these objectives the college has designed a platform – for learning through civic engagement – called Service Learning Programme.  The Programme is conceived as a sensitising project wherein all undergraduates are to do a minimum of 40 hours of mandatory social service.

Objectives 

• To encourage physical and mental well-being and to take joy in effort.
• To enable them to relate the knowledge gained to the real life situations
• To build sensitivity towards fellow beings and the environment
• To assist the local community
• To encourage cleanliness and the preservation of the natural environment.

The Context

The rapid urbanisation and the rising trend of consumerism are steadily turning the state into a feedlot where the young people grow up with little awareness of the human effort behind the items they consume, especially the agricultural products. Similarly, the race for success and self-aggrandisement are turning the youth apathetic towards the disadvantaged communities. As an institution founded on the Christian values of love and service, the college considers as its mission to instil in the students a caring attitude not only to fellow human beings, especially those underprivileged, but also to all life forms around them. This includes the caring of the environment and sustainable practises in agriculture.

The multi-pronged-programme launched by the college is an exercise in experiential learning. Is has taken Sustainable practises, Sensitisation activities, Awareness programmes and Swatch mission as its core areas service.

The Practice

Sensitisation Drive

The student groups visit old-age homes; destitute/isolation wards and child cancer wards of hospitals periodically. Another initiative is “u3a” to train the elderly in computer, internet, smart phones, paper bag making etc.

Awareness Campaigns

Our volunteers organise cancer awareness classes with the support of medical practitioners. Periodical health check-up for the detection of cancer and lifestyle diseases, eye diseases etc., are held. 

Swatch Bharat

Weekly cleaning drives of public places, including the removal of litter and plastic waste, beautifying vacant lots and creating awareness among the public about cleanliness is an important activity.

Environment Conservation

Used pens are collected (around 5 kg/month!), recycle them and put them on sale through the Honesty Shop*.  Moreover, paper pens and handicraft items are made from waste paper and sold in the college.

Organic Farming

To initiate the youth into farming and to teach the local community sustainable agricultural practices, the college purchased 2 hectares of fallow land in a nearby village, and has been doing organic farming with the involvement of student volunteers.

Evidences of success

• The sensitisation programmes have been hugely successful as the participants are able to empathise with the aged and the suffering.
• The age-friendly programmes have provided the aged with a sense of independence and empowerment and even find post-retirement employment. It has shown to improve their mental health of both the students and the aged. The programme has won many accolades.
• The swatch project is now being supported by the civic authorities. It has also helped the cultivation of the value of cleanliness.
• The organic farming project has evoked the interest of the local community and the fallow land is now returning into farmland with guidance of the Service Learning team.

Problems Encountered & Resources Required

The students as well as the public were sceptical initially. However as the programme progressed enrolment increased and more public support came in terms of human resource and sponsorships. Fitting the programme into the schedule of the semester system was the first challenge.  The logistics involved is another. Moreover, raising additional human and material resources remains a challenge.

Best Practice 2: SHARE and Research Incubation

SHARE (Sacred Heart Advanced Research Endeavour) is essentially a body formed in the college in 2010 with the aim of promoting a research culture among the students. The body consists of research scholars and research guides of the college and the faculty members with proven record in the area of research. The activities are coordinated by Dean of Research who is supported by the Deans of Science and Humanities. SHARE coordinates the research programmes of various departments by facilitating inter-disciplinary discussions, organising seminars on frontier areas, workshops, paper presentation sessions, as well as by helping them in applying for scholarships/fellowships, patents etc., It also supervises the allocation of seed money for research. Over the years, SHARE has observed that the students who join postgraduate and research programmes do not have adequate initiation into research and that proper initiation should be given to them at the UG and PG levels. Hence, in 2017 SHARE introduced a set of practices called ‘Research Incubation’ with the intention of improving the quality of UG and PG research projects and thereby providing the students with proper initiation into research.

Objectives of the Practice

• Coordinate the research projects of students by preparing guidelines for UG and PG research projects.
• Give necessary guidance and support to the research supervisors of various departments.
• Facilitate funding through the seed-money corpus of the college
• Provide necessary assistance to those who apply for minor and major research projects funded by external agencies.

The Context

Although the parent  university introduced a research project as a mandatory component for fulfilling the requirements for the award of UG or PG degree in the early 2000s, it was not given adequate emphasis by the colleges since very few students pursued research after their Master’s Programme. However, since the late 2010s more and more students showed interest in pursuing research after their Master’s Degree. This necessitated additional efforts to orient the students towards research. This included cultivating critical thinking habits in the students; train them in identifying a research area; guide them in formulating research problems; and finally help them in preparing research proposal. The concept of “Research Incubation” is the result of a series of deliberations in the SHARE committee meetings and trial and error.

The Practice

Research Incubation under SHARE begins with the selection of the topics for research at the UG and PG levels. In the first stage itself, students are allocated project guides and general instructions are given regarding the procedures to be followed for doing the project work. Each candidate has to keep a project journal in which the candidate has to record the outcome of the meetings with the project guide and it has to be duly signed by the latter. Having chosen an area for research, the students are asked to make a presentation of the proposal before an audience consisting of faculty members and peers. The candidate has to clarify questions regarding the objectives, methodology and outcome and the observations and recommendations by the audience are to be considered while proceeding with the work. After giving them to revise the proposal, a second round of the presentation is held. Once again the finer aspects of the project are discussed and if the proposal is found satisfactory, final approval is given for the continuation of the work. In the third phase, that is, in the final phase of the preparation of the project, SHARE supervises the plagiarism checking process and those which are found to have substantial amount of plagiarised content are returned to the candidates for resubmission.

SHARE also organises a science congress every year in which a competition of the presentation of select PG projects from various disciplines are held. The winners are given cash prices and a trophy. Moreover, those projects which are worthy of publication are recommended for publication in peer reviewed journals with necessary modifications. SHARE also recommends for seed money from the research corpus for those that are recommended for continued work and publication.

Accordingly, the students have to make presentations of the proposed research work before the faculty members and peers twice and get their approval before they proceed with the work. Once they start the work, they will have to maintain a journal in which they will have to record the progress of the work which is countersigned by the supervisor. The internal assessment marks for the project will be awarded on the basis of the effort put in by the students which will be evident from the journal.

Another initiative by SHARE is ‘Heartian Research Meet’ conducted biannually to review the progress of the ongoing major and minor research projects of the college. It is also used as a platform to prepare the half-yearly report of the research scholars of various research centres of the college, which is a mandatory requirement of the parent university.

Evidence of Success

Research Incubation has made significant improvement in the quality of the UG and PG projects. The rigorous scrutiny of the proposals encourage the students to write well-structured proposals. Attending the presentations by seniors gives the junior batches the exposure to research methodology. Another outcome is decrease in the complaints regarding the objectivity of the internal assessment of the project work. Project Journal is an objective document of progress of the work and it comes handy in internal assessment. There has been significant reduction in complaints regarding the internal evaluation of project work. Plagiarism check has made it difficult for the students to copy from secondary sources without acknowledging them. The Research Congress gives the students an opportunity to attend paper presentations by higher level researchers apart from the opportunity to participate in the competition. Since the launch Research Incubation, many students have been able to present papers based on their projects in national and international seminars. A few have also been successful in publishing their papers. Biannual ‘Heartian Research Meets’ have been successful in ensuring the quality of research of the Ph.D. scholars, as well as that of the externally funded projects, which is evidenced by a steady increase in the number of research publications over the years.

Problems Encountered and Resources Required

One of the major obstacles to the proper conduct of the programme is the paucity of time. Semester system being a roller-coaster ride, gives little time for activities of this kind. Nonetheless, the departments find time outside the class hours, if necessary, for the conduct of presentation sessions. If a candidate is absent on the day of presentation, a special session is called for the conduct of the same. Science Congress sessions and Research Meets are usually held on Saturdays and hence it does not affect the routine work in the college.

Plagiarism checking is often a thorny task as a number of students submit their work in the last minute for plagiarism checking. And if one of these works fails plagiarism check, they do not get adequate time to revise the work. This has led to the non-submission of projects in the past.

• Organisation of seminars and workshops for research scholars require substantial resources in terms of honorarium for the experts and other organisational expenses.
• Seed money given for research projects and price money given to winners of the competition are areas where the college has to find resources.
• Much of the activities of the incubation programme are conducted outside the class hours. Hence the availability of the faculty time as well as that of the library staff is important for the programme.

Minutes of Meeting

Action Taken Reports

Handbook 2019-20

IQAC Quality Initiatives

Paramarsh

Objectives

The main objective of the scheme is to enhance the overall quality of the mentee institutions and mentoring the non-accredited Higher Education Institutions to enable them to get accredited. 

Benefits of of the mentee institutions

• Brings about enhancement in the overall quality of the mentee institution.
• Enhances the profile of institutions as a result of improved quality of research, teaching and learning methodologies.
• Receives support in the Professional Development of Academics.
• Increased exposure and speedier adaption to best practices. 

Paramarsh Brochure

Paramarsh – UGC Guidelines

IQAC collects feedback from students, via student satisfaction survey, conducted online, periodically.

The results of the recent survey maybe viewed here.

Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC)

Sacred Heart College (Autonomous)

Thevara, Kochi – 682013

0484-2870577

iqac@shcollege.ac.in