Srinagar, June 21: In a first holistic exercise of its kind, the University of Kashmir has gone public with its ‘achievements and grey areas’ in academic and research arenas in a bid to achieve the goal of “Total Quality Management.”
 In its Annual Report-2011, which has been recently made public, the University has in a holistic manner highlighted the departmental activities of the past four years, especially with regard to academics and research. Unlike the past, the Annual Report has this time displayed the overall performance of the departments, apart from individual performance by teachers (of all ranks) in these areas. This, according to officials, has been done to help academics make a comparison between achievements and/or weaknesses in different departments to plug the same in future.
 The areas which have been highlighted in the 400-pages report include ‘conferences/seminars held, eminent scholars who visited the department, increase in infrastructural facilities, plans for the year 2012, faculty profile (including qualification, areas of specialization, details of classes attended, seminars attended, research projects initiated/completed, publications, research guidance, grey areas).’
 According to officials, the annual report has surfaced in the backdrop of the University’s “commitment” to bring about transparency in the system and help academics and researchers to improve upon the “identified grey areas, if any.” “The departmental profiles have been holistically and transparently highlighted in the report. This would help every department and its faculty to make a comparison of achievements and weaknesses on academic and research fronts,” said a KU official. “Once this is done, it would obviously help the University to plug these grey areas to bring about the overall quality improvement. If the departments/teachers have performed well, it is there in the report and if they have faltered anywhere, it is reflected there in the statistics and other information.”
 In many departments, the grey areas include “dearth of faculty, paucity of space. Insufficient laboratory infrastructure for undertaking research in more advanced areas, limited financial resources, limited budgetary support and paucity of classrooms.”
 The Director of the University’s Directorate of Internal Quality Assurance (DIQA), Prof Aijaz Banday, under whose supervision the report has come out, says the “Annual Report-2011 is an interface between the University and society at large. Since it is mandatory to document and publish the activities of the University, necessitated by our willingness to have self-introspection and external assessment, we have therefore displayed our achievements and weaknesses before the stakeholders and society within and outside the Valley.” “This would help the University to encourage accountability in its quest for excellence,” he said. “The publication is a step towards showcasing the home grown quality consciousness of students, scholars, faculty, administrators and others who have put in their best efforts to excel for sustenance and improvement.”
 Nonetheless, Prof Banday said, the publication “provides a chance to the University to intervene for quality improvements and enhancements; to identify and analyze concerns and to frame out strategies for future growth and journey. In this era of rapidly evolving higher education landscape, in and around us, we have to evolve mechanism to meet the challenges to implement total quality management.”
 Senior KU academics believe the report is all comprehensive. “Clarity is the hallmark of the annual report. It has a systematic structure when you go through it. And the graphics are quite tangible, wherein an ordinary person could understand these graphics quite easily,” Dr Lily Want, Head, Department of English told Greater Kashmir. “The report is all comprehensive having inclusive data presentation which covers all aspects like achievements and individual performance by teachers.”
 The KU Vice-Chancellor Prof Talat Ahmad said the exercises like formulation of Annual Report are “ultimately aimed at making the University a centre of excellence by identifying the priorities for vibrant academic and global competition.” “University of Kashmir has traversed a long way and carved a name for itself in the higher education. We are in the process of continuously upgrading ourselves to build the brand name for the University,” he said.
 He said the annual report has been ‘well taken’ by the KU’s Chancellor and Pro-Chancellor.

Lastupdate on : Thu, 21 Jun 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 21 Jun 2012 18:30:00 GMT
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