Internal Quality Assurance Cell

As per the UGC guidelines, Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) is to be established in higher Educational Institutions. The UGC has established National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) to monitor the standards of the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) under section 12 (ccc) of its Act I in Sept 1994. NAAC has been instilling a momentum of quality consciousness amongst Higher Educational Institutions aiming for continuous improvement in quality of education and enhancing awareness of Institutional Quality Assurance with all stakeholders. Assessment is a performance evaluation of an HEI and / or its units’ defined criteria. Accreditation refers to the certification given by NAAC which is valid for a period of five years. Many Higher Educational Institutions have established the Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC), a post accreditation quality sustenance activity. NAAC reveals that the IQAC is a healthy way. The UGC has recognized this initiative and it has taken a policy decision to direct all HEIs (Universities) to establish IQACs for which, it has decided to provide seed financial assistance of Rs.5.00 lakh to each university as one time grant.

          NAAC proposes that every accredited Institution should establish an IQAC as a post accreditation quality sustenance measure. Since quality enhancement is a continuous process, the IQAC will become a part of an Institution’s system and work towards realizing the goals of quality enhancement and sustenance. The prime task of the IQAC is to develop a system for conscious, consistent and catalytic improvement in the performance of institutions.

          The IQAC will make a significant and meaningful contribution in the post accreditation phase of Institutions. During the post accreditation period, the IQAC will channelize the efforts and measures of an institution towards academic excellence.

          Considering the fact that Central University of Tamil Nadu is a New University and most of its faculty & staff will be new to this activity, it has been decided to set up the IQAC & integrate it in the pre-accreditation phase itself so that all stakeholders in the University are involved in the accreditation process from the initial stage itself. The Internal Quality Assurance Mechanism of the Institution may be called “Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC)”, which is meant for planning, guiding and monitoring Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Enhancement (QE) activities of the University.