AQAR - Guidelines On Annual Quality Assurance Report (AQAR)

National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) is an organization that is funded by the University Grants Commission (UGC), responsible for assessing and accrediting institutions based on set standards and criteria. To ensure the maintenance of quality, NAAC has suggested every accredited institute set up IQAC, which would help the higher educational institutions to foster their overall performance.

Guidelines of IQAC and Submission of Annual Quality Assurance Report (AQAR)

First of all the general and basic information of the institution need to be mentioned which includes the following-

• Name of the Head of the institution
• Designation
• Does the institution function from its own campus
• Phone number/Alternate phone number/Mobile number
• Registered email, alternate email address, followed by the physical address of the institution
• Institutional status should be mentioned wherein the University could be
• State/Central/Deemed/Private, then the type of institution which could be
• Co-education/Men/Women

Likewise, there are other pointers asking questions about its financial status and contact information about the IQAC which should be answered accordingly.

Accreditation details need to be filled out next wherein the cycles, grade, CGPA, Year of accreditation, and Validity Period needs to be mentioned accordingly. As a part of quality assurance initiatives, the institutions should timely submit the report, they can also go for AQAR online submission.

AQAR - CRITERION 1: Curricular Aspects

Curriculum Design and Development

This includes the preparation of the syllabus along with the revision of the programs during the academic year. The programs and courses should be developed in such a way that it would serve to polish the skills of the students and increase the chances of their employability. The courses should not merely focus on bookish knowledge but rather enhance their overall knowledge give them exposure to other fields as well like entrepreneurship.

Academic Flexibility

The new courses and programs that were introduced in the academic year; the institute willing to be flexible enough wherein it would implement new assessment strategies. Choice-based Credit System or Elective Course System applied at the university level during the academic year.

Curriculum Enrichment

To enhance the overall curriculum the kind of courses and programs which are introduced in the year that focused on fostering transferable life skills. This also includes the number of field projects and internships conducted by the institution, followed by tallying up the number of students enrolled for the aforementioned internship or project.

Feedback system

Perhaps one of the key components of the AQAR report of colleges, the feedback system gives detailed and structured feedback from all the stakeholders including students, parents, teachers, alumni, and employers.

AQAR - Criterion 2: Teaching-Learning and Evaluation

Student Enrollment and Profile

As the name suggests this includes the number of students enrolled along with the name of the program, the number of seats available, and the number of applications that are received for a particular program or course.

Student - Full-time Teacher Ratio (Current Year Data)

As per the revised AQAR guidelines, the institutions must take into consideration of student diversity, this should include the number of students enrolled within the institution for both undergraduate and post-graduate degrees. Followed by the number of full-time teachers available in the institution for both undergraduate and postgraduate courses lastly, teachers who teach both courses.

Teaching-Learning Process

This includes the number of teachers who utilize Information and Communication Technology for effective teaching with the help of the Learning Management System, E-learning Resources, etc. This should be followed by writing a detailed analysis of the Students Mentoring system that is used in the institution.

Teacher Profile and Quality

This includes the number of full-time teachers who are appointed during the year, also including the vacant positions, positions filled during the current year, and the number of faculty with Ph.D.

Honors and Recognitions Received by Teachers

This mentions the year the teacher received an award as well different kinds of awards, recognition, fellowships that have been received at the national, state, and international level from the government or any other recognized bodies.

Evaluation Process and Reforms

This basically includes the number of days from the end of the semester to the result declaration day, this also includes an average percentage of students’ complaints regarding the evaluation process.

Student Performance and Learning Outcomes

Related to all the programs provided by the institute, the program outcomes, program-specific outcomes, and course outcomes should be displayed on the website of the institute. The web link should be mentioned under this option along with the program name, the number of students who appeared in the final examination, and the number of students who passed the examinations.

Student Satisfaction Survey

A document that would indicate an overall institutional performance and via a weblink the results and details should be provided.

AQAR - CRITERION 3: Research, Innovations & Extension

Promotion of Research and Facilities

This includes the details of the awards, fellowships that are given to the respective teachers for their research and studies during the academic year.

Resource Mobilization for Research

This includes the details of different kinds of researches conducted, funds that are sanctioned and received by various agencies, industry and other organizations.

Other important components of research activities include-

• Innovation Ecosystem
• Research Publications and Awards
• Consultancy
• Extension Activities
• Collaborations

AQAR- CRITERION 4: Infrastructure & Learning Resources

Physical Facilities

This includes the allocating of budgets for infrastructural facilities campus area, classrooms, laboratories, seminar halls, classrooms with LCD facilities, classrooms with Wi-Fi/ LAN Seminar halls with ICT facilities, and video center.

This also includes Library as a learning resource which includes textbooks, reference books, e-books, journals, e-journal, etc. This is followed by the technology upgrade process through the regular maintenance of the devices and institution system.

Maintenance of Campus Infrastructure

This should include an institutional website link to a 500 words piece detailing the procedures and policies followed to maintain and utilize the physical infrastructural facilities such as computers, classrooms, sports complexes, etc.

AQAR- CRITERION 5: Student Support & Progression

Student Support

This includes various kinds of supports and assistance provided by the institution to the students.

• Scholarships and financial support provided by the institution
• Financial supports provided by other agencies
• This also includes the number of capability enhancement schemes initiated by the institution such as personal counseling, soft skills development, yoga, etc
• Names of the schemes that benefitted the students during the preparation of the Government preparation examination. Along with the number of benefited students
• Remedial measures for addressing student grievances, prevention of sexual harassment, and ragging cases during the academic year

Student Progression

This area should include the details of the campus placement during the academic year followed by the details of the students progressing into higher education. Lastly the details of students qualifying the state, national and international level examinations.

Student Participation and Activities

This space is particularly to be used for mentioning the number of awards and medals to the students for their excellent performance in sports and cultural activities at the national and international levels.

AQAR- CRITERION 6: Governance Leadership & Management

Institutional Vision and Leadership

Under this criteria, two practices of decentralization and participatory management at all levels of the operation of the institution should be mentioned within five hundred words.

Strategy Development and Deployment

The improvement strategies which the institution have adopted for the following:

Curriculum development, teaching, and learning, examination, and evaluation, Library, ICT and Physical Infrastructure / Instrumentation, Human Resource Management, Industry Interaction / Collaboration, Admission of Students, etc.

The last three components of this criterion are Faculty Empowerment strategies and financial management and resource mobilization followed by the Internal Quality Assurance system.

AQAR- CRITERION 7: Institutional Values & Best Practices

This includes the practices and policies that are implemented by the institution to maintain gender equality, environmental consciousness, and emphasize sustainable energy initiatives. This also focuses on details of differently-abled facilities such as scribes for examination, facilities for examination for ramp and rails, etc.