Loyola Academy (Autonomous)
A “College with Potential For Excellence” by UGC
Affiliated to Osmania University Established in 1978
Online Entrance Exam Guidelines Will Be Available By 15th May 2024
Title of the Practice: Internal Academic Audit cell (IAAC) –
A Faculty-driven Initiative for Academic Quality Control.
Objectives of the practice:
The main objective of the Internal Academic Audit Cell is to identify the potential, applicability and efficaciousness of teaching, learning and evaluation practices, in order to assure high-quality academic inputs, processes and outputs.
Specific objectives are:
To comprehend the current system and assess the strengths and weaknesses of the departments thereby, suggesting the methods for improvement and overcoming the weaknesses.
To promote key developments that upgrade the curriculum and augment students’ opportunities for job enrolment and career development.
To be a driving force to attain perfection in all the activities, motivating the fulfillment of the core values of the college.
The Context:
The Internal Academic Audit Cell was formulated in Loyola Academy to promote self-reflection and self-improvement among all departments and student activity centres of the college. It was introduced by IQAC in the College, under the purview of Quality Control and Scrutiny of Academic related matters and initiatives. At a department level, the Academic Audit reviews the quality of assets and the conditions facilitating the context of achieving the learning outcome. llamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
The Practice:
There are two phases in the academic audit. One, a self-evaluation phase. Two, an external evaluation phase. During the self-evaluation phase of the Academic Audit, the faculty look at the key activities in place that regularly improve the quality of teaching and learning. During the external-evaluation phase, Academic Audit Team conducts a review of the self-evaluation phase. The team reviews the self-evaluation report of the faculty (format is prescribed, initially); conducts a site visit, and writes its own report that includes commendations, affirmations and recommendations for continued improvements.
Internal Academic Audit Cell (IAAC) constitutes of a Coordinator and about twelve members of teaching staff. IAAC looks into various aspects of academics like maintenance of teaching diary, lesson plans, improving the quality of syllabi, allotment of assignments, project works, cumulative attendance entry, usage of ICT tools, mentoring books and details of remedial classes from teachers. The Head of the Department reports departmental activities to the audit team. It also looks into the maintenance of quality of teaching and learning by conducting internal audit of all the departments in the following way:
The Coordinator of the IQAC cell initiates the process by serving a notice to the HOD and faculty members of the department regarding the dates and time of the audit.
The audit is conducted at the departmental level for its activities and also for the individual faculty. The audit is assessed based on set criteria.
The staff is requested to submit the documents with valid proofs. The auditors will scrutinize, collate the evidence, analyze and evaluate the documents formulating specific lines of enquiry from the above. The auditors will then produce a report that describes the strengths and weaknesses of the auditee’s efforts to improve academic quality of their programmes and identify plans for improvements. The audit report shall be handed over to the principal. Plan of action can be prepared to implement the suggestions accepted by IQAC.
IAAC is exercised biannually i.e. in every semester and once in three years by an external audit committee.
Evidence of Success:
- IAAC has found that majority of the departments have assessed their incapability and worked towards achieving their targets.
- Mentoring was taken seriously and data was recorded in a book. Faculty attended more number of seminars, published research articles, authored books, applied for research projects, compared to previous years.
- One of the direct outcomes of the Internal Academic Audit was that it met institutional expectations, and over the years, became a thoroughly documented process that meets the requirements of any inspection.
Problems Encountered and Resources required:
- The documents pertaining to the department are not transferred systematically when there is a change in the HOD.
- Lack of consistency in the staff due to which documents are not properly maintained. Time is consumed in training and monitoring the newly appointed staff to document the data.
- The newly recruited staff lacks a sense of belongingness with the students and the department.
- Sufficient time is not provided to prepare and maintain the documents due to hectic lecture and remedial hours.
Resources required:
Orientation programme on IQAC in the form of seminars and workshops could be conducted twice a year and also promote the staff to attend more seminars and improve their teaching – learning processes.