The development of a society depends on a large extent on the nature and standard of higher educations. It has enormous potential to promote prosperity in the developing nations. Throughout the world, university change the society and remain the centre of change and development. Practically, most of the universities of Bangladesh are not capable to meet the international standards of higher education. International compatibility and competitiveness demand enhancing quality of higher education. So, the University Grants Commission of Bangladesh tries to establish quality education in both public and private universities. Based on Quality Education, IQAC established at Gono Bishwabidyalay on July 2015 under the Higher Education Quality Enhancement Project (HEQEP) funded by the World Bank. The objectives of IQAC were (i) to develop quality assurance strategies and mechanisms by adapting and incorporating national Quality Assurance (QA) guidelines and international best practices of higher education (ii) to design an academic program with specific ILOs, strategies and systematic review of the Self Assessment (SA) and continuous improvement of the faculty and associate staff (iii) to include governance and management issues of the university in the QA framework and (iv) to develop skill for teaching and non teaching staffs through training workshop on teaching-learning strategies. In the view of objectives, IQAC constituted Quality Assurance Committee (QAC) and Self Assessment Committee (SAC) as per IQAC Manual who are working on Quality Assurance of different areas such as Governance, Curriculum, Student Admission, Physical Facilities of Teaching-Learning, Student Support, Staff and Facilities, Research & Extension, Process Management & Continuous Improvement.

Achievements of IQAC:

• Formation of Quality Assurance Committee.
• Formation of Self-Assessment Committee.
• Preparation of Self-Assessment Report.
• Peer observation of 12 Programs.
• Preparation of Improvement Plan.
• Preparation of outcome based curriculum.
• Establishment of a well equipped modern Conference Hall
• Arrangement of different Workshop and Training.
• Teacher evaluation.

Training and Workshop:

IQAC recognized the importance of training and skills enhancement exercise as a means to maintain and improve professionalism. On that point of views, 164 faculty members were trained on Preparation of Improvement Plan, Teaching-Planning, Learning Assessment & Curricula design, Bloom’s taxonomy, Pedagogy and Professional Ethics and Professional Development by renowned national and international resource persons in different times. On the other hand, 215 faculty members were attended in different workshops organized by IQAC. After getting training on different categories, the faculty members and non teaching staffs carried out their specific tasks more efficiently than before. The most of the important training was outcome based curricula development. Because curriculum is considered the heart of any learning institution which means universities cannot exist without a curriculum. With its importance in formal education, curriculum has become a dynamic process due to the changes that occur in our society. By looking at the curriculum of a subject, one can judge the state of intellectual development and the state of progress of a nation. On that point of view, IQAC arranged a training program on outcome based curriculum design instead of traditional syllabus and curricula because the modern educational institutions follow the outcome based curricula.

Teacher’s evaluation:

The checklist included the statements made by IQAC for evaluating teaching performance of a teacher. The administration sections of the university advice the students of different program to fill up the checklist against each of the statement. The main objective of this program was to improve the teaching quality of our honourable teacher community. A total of 162 teachers of different disciplines and their courses were evaluated by the student throughout year of 2016 by the supervision of administrative officials of this university. After analysis, the registrar of this university sent the assessment score to the respective teacher with sincere comments based on evaluation.

 Best Practices of Gono Bishwabidyalay:

This findings and outcomes of the external peer review which are presented as the strengths and weaknesses of each of the Quality criteria as identified in the UGC manuals. The comments on these findings are preceded by some general observations on the Self-Assessment Report prepared by the Departments. The Peer Reviewer Team of different programs of Gono Bishwabidyalay identified the strengths and weakness of program offering entities. The team recognized some things that were practicing very well in different areas of GB treated as best practices. Based on reviewer’s comments, the best practices (strengths) in different areas of the programs are as follows:

 Governance

• The University has a clear and unique vision and mission which are conveyed to staff and students
• The university has a spacious campus, allowing for further development, and its institutions and governing bodies are established and functioning well.
• Internal quality assurance Cell (IQAC) has been established recently under the initiative of the UGC
• The primary statutory bodies that constitute the governance system such as the Syndicate and Academic Council are in place as per the Act under which the University is established.
• The University provides a prospectus to all new students which contain an overview of the university, academic programs, objectives of the program offering entity, course titles, rules relating to programs and profile of the faculty members.

Curriculum Content, Design and Review

• All the programs of GB have teaching outcome based curriculum.
• The curriculum is comprehensive, covers the required areas of microbiology and is of acceptable academic standard.
• Courses are structured and arranged logically while the course load appears to be optimal
• Each course is well defined with an informative course outline containing learning objectives, syllabuses, teaching/learning/assessment methods and references
• A few interdisciplinary courses are included in the curriculum, which is supporting graduates to develop social awareness, good citizenship and better performance when employed as doctors.

Student Admission, Progress and Achievements 

• The university maintains a fair and transparent system of admission. The admission policy is well defined and approved by the appropriate authorities. The students have positive attitude on the degree program offered by the department. The university practices the teachers’ evaluation by the student. There is no alumni contact procedure
• Admission notice is issued in due time.
• There is policy to cater for students who are under privilege
• Students of GB have good adaptability, resilience and level of professionalism.
• There is satisfactory maintenance of records of the total number of years, semester, and credits for each student to be eligible for graduation and other credentials.

 Physical Facilities

• Assessment methods are satisfactory and perceived to be fair
• Both Summative and formative assessments are carried out.
• Content of examinations generally matched the course material.
• Oral examinations are held with external examiners on the interview panels.
• There are plenty of opportunities provided for students to engage in sports and cultural activities, including regular inter-departmental tournaments and external sports tournament and cultural activities. Evidence of students’ achievement was in view and these are celebrated.

Teaching, Learning and Assessment

• A research project with a four-credit dissertation was compulsory for all undergraduates
• Provision of staying in rural areas to develop social responsiveness and mental makeup to serve the general people in remote and rural areas.
• The process of preparing the question papers, final examinations and evaluation of scripts and preparation of results are well managed in terms of transparency, confidentiality and credibility.
• Feedback after assessment and assignments are provided in good time, and in a manner that benefits students’ learning
• There is high commitment and sincerity of teachers to give classes and to provide good education to students.

Student Support Services

• The University strongly supports student extra-curricular activities
• The majority of students use the available facilities for sports and cultural activities
• The central library is well-funded and has sufficient textbooks
• Facilities for organizing extra-curricular and co-curricular activities.
• Community involvement opportunities for students

Staff and facilities

• The teaching staff are qualified and meritorious, as well as having commitment and dedication for the growth of the department.
• There is adequate infrastructure to support teaching-learning process.
• Some funds are available for research activities and teachers must bid for these. This is a good start to the beginning of a research culture. Further development should consider a research policy to ensure that all faculties are engaged in some kind of research activity, the result of which should go back into the teaching and learning processes.
• There are well-qualified teaching supportive staff, technical staff, and other non-academic staff. Academic staffs are provided training on updated teaching methods and pedagogy. There is good relationship between academic and non-academic staffs. The office space and the facilities for the staff are sufficient

Research and Extension

• Several Journal publications are generated by members of the academic staff
• Undergraduate students were required to carry out a research project and to prepare a dissertation for examination
• The University supports research by providing finance for research
• Despite financial constraints, teachers publish their research papers in international and national journals. Some of them also attend conferences and seminars for the dissemination of their research findings.
• The Departments shows interest in research, evident through the publications list.

Process Management and Continuous Improvement

• An IQAC has been formed and commenced basic training and sensitizing academic staff to the need for quality assurance. IQAC looks very active and provides some relevant training on quality assurance mechanism.
• Teachers showed enthusiasm for better process management and continuous quality improvement.
• It is very satisfactory that the top management of Gono Bishwabidyalay committed to develop quality culture in the university as well as in all the Faculties and Departments of the university.
• IQAC is offering many training courses to teachers of the university. In general, the whole university is somewhat poised to improve itself more rigorously
• There are evidences to believe that apex management is committed to provide conducive learning environment for students and faculty members.

It’s our pleasure that we completed all the components of the sub project entitled as ”Establishment of IQAC at Gono Bishwabidyalay” successfully. We have already developed a quality culture in GB. Through this sub-project we have prepared outcome based Curriculum for twelve programs. A through improvement plan has been prepared on the basis of SA report and EPRT report which will be implemented within next four years. Now IQAC is a permanent body of GB and it will perform its activities to assure the continues improvement of quality of higher education in GB. In a nutshell we can say that through this cell GB will be able to assure the quality education at tertiary level in near future.

The Performance Contract has been signed between UGC and GB for Establishing Institutional Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC)

Program Judgement

       Presently, Quality of Higher Education is quite questionable in global context. Majority universities are incapable to meet international standards of higher education. International compatibility and competitiveness demand enhancing Quality of Higher Education. So, the University Grants Commission of Bangladesh tries to establish quality education in both public and private universities. Based on Quality Education, IQAC established at Gono Bishwabidyalay in July 2015 under the Higher Education Quality Enhancement Project (HEQEP) funded by the World Bank.

The objectives of IQAC are (i) to develop quality assurance strategies and mechanisms by adapting and incorporating national Quality Assurance (QA) guidelines and international best practices of higher education (ii) to design an academic program with specific ILOs, strategies and systematic review of the Self Assessment (SA) and continuous improvement of the faculty and associate staff (iii) to include governance and management issues of the university in the QA framework and (iv) to develop skill for teaching and non teaching staffs through training-workshop on teaching-learning strategies.

In the view of objectives, IQAC constituted Quality Assurance Committee (QAC) and Self Assessment Committee (SAC) as per IQAC Manual who are working on Quality Assurance of different areas such as Governance, Curriculum, Student Admission, Physical Facilities of Teaching-Learning, Student Support, Staff and Facilities, Research & Extension, Process Management & Continuous Improvement.

The External Peer Review Team (EPRT) constituted with three members headed by Quality Assurance (QA) expert from abroad and two other members (one as National Quality Assurance Expert and another one as Subject Matter  Expert) recently completed their visit schedule of 12 programs of Gono Bishwabidyalay such as: Microbiology, Physiotherapy, Pharmacy, MBBS, Applied Mathematics, Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, Law, English, Language Communication and culture, Sociology and Social Work, Politics and Governance.

The team reviewed the different documents and self assessment report, visited the different facilities of the programs and also conducted meetings with different stakeholders. They were judged the areas of Governance, Curriculum Design, Physical Facilities, Student Admission Process and Achievements, Teaching and Learning, Assessment of Student Performances, Student Support Services, Staff and Facilities, Research and Extension, Process Management for Continual Improvement of all programs of Gono Bishwabidyalay.

Considering the judgements given for the different quality assurance aspects, the review teams were given an overall judgement of GOOD for all of the programs of Gono Bishwabidyalay.

Documentary Report on Institutional Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) at Gono Bishwabidyalay for Details Click Here