Two-day seminar on 'Role of Academic Audit in Higher Education' held in Mathura

Mathura: As the field of education has gone global, improvement in curriculum development, teaching, learning and capacity building has become a basic necessity in higher education level, Professor A Balasubramanian, director, Educational Multimedia Research Centre, University of Mysore, said.

He spoke during a two-day national seminar on "Role of academic and administrative audit in achieving quality excellence in higher education institutions," organised by RCA Girls (PG) College, Mathura on January 30 and 31. "Education, in fact, is for imparting knowledge, empowerment, intellectual development, upgrading skills and improving capabilities of the student," he said. The professor with experience of conducting academic and administrative audit (AAA) in more than 160 colleges addressed the delegates of the seminar through webcast. The professor delivered his lecture through video-conference owing to his pre-occupation in some other programme, Preeti Johari, college principal and seminar director said. Conducting academic and administrative audit is a tool employed by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) to evaluate and accredit universities and colleges, she added. In his lecture, Balasubramanian said IQAC (internal quality assurance cell) should become a very important part of the education system in higher education as it is meant to work towards realisation of goals of quality enhancement and sustenance. Since achieving academic excellence in higher education is a priority of the government and the University Grants Commission, certification by NAAC by 2024 has been made obligatory for institutions imparting higher education, he pointed out. According to Balasubramanian, academic audit and administrative audit are two important elements of quality enhancement that are complementary to each other. As there is no specific methodology for quality enhancement to certify the norms of NACC, every institution has to evolve its own methodology for continuous qualitative improvement, he said. Good practices that are undertaken by good institutions may be incorporated without deviating from the main goal, he opined. Delivering his keynote address, Professor Satyasheel from MNNIT, Allahabad, who has engaged in academic audit of few universities, stressed on the need for employing external auditors to review and assess academic activities of an institution.

He also explained various steps/methodologies, audit benefits, stress on product, focus on objectives of programmes, use of support activities, proper approach of questioning, remedial measures, focus of research work, upgrading faculty, etc to be adopted by the institutions for quality enhancement. "Presenting a conceptual model of such audits comprising three components -input, process and output, institutions may opt to take in academicians from prestigious institutions in their institutional committees like IQAC to incorporate their experience for their benefit," Satyasheel said. Professor Pushpendra from Delhi University discussed a seven-point norm needed for NAAC evaluation/accreditation for higher educational institutions in the country.

Over four dozen papers by eminent educationists including K K Kanaujia, member Ucchatar Shiksha Seva Ayog (Higher Education Service Commission), Shobha Pathak, S K Saxena, Shikha Malviya, Swati, Himani Rawat, Ravi Sharma, Anil Saxena and Tripta Sharma, the convenor of the seminar Kalpana Vajpeyi said. RCA Girls College has been given status of mentor college for assisting other colleges who are expected to get NAAC accreditation, principal Johari said.