Introduction:
As per the guidelines of National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), the establishment of Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) is a mandatory requirement for all NAAC-accredited institutions. JNTUH, Hyderabad was reaccredited by NAAC in the year 2024 with A+ grade (CGPA 3.32). The IQAC of JNTUH, since its inception, has been consistently and actively involved in quality sustenance and quality enhancement activities. It is a participative cell of the University that works on evolving strategies to remove deficiencies and enhance quality, thus channelizing the efforts of the University towards achieving holistic academic excellence.

Objectives: The objectives of the IQAC are to:

• To develop a system for conscious, consistent and catalytic action to improve the academic and administrative performance of the University.
• To promote measures for the institutional functioning towards quality enhancement through internalization of quality culture and institutionalization of best practices.

Accordingly, IQAC strives to evolve mechanisms and procedures for:

• Ensuring timely, efficient and progressive performance of academic, administrative and financial tasks;
• The relevance and quality of academic and research programmes;
• Equitable access to and affordability of academic programmes for various sections of society;
• Optimization and integration of modern methods of teaching and learning;
• The credibility of evaluation procedures;
• Ensuring the adequacy, maintenance and proper allocation of support structure and services;
• Sharing of research findings and networking with other institutions in India and abroad.

Functions:
Some of the functions of the IQAC are as follows:

• Development and application of quality benchmarks/parameters for various academic and administrative activities of the institution;
• Facilitating the creation of a learner-centric environment conducive to quality education and faculty maturation to adopt the required knowledge and technology for participatory teaching and learning process;
• Arrangement for feedback response from students, parents and other stakeholders on quality-related institutional processes
• Dissemination of information on various quality parameters of higher education;
• Organization of inter and intra institutional workshops, seminars on quality related themes and promotion of quality circles;
• Documentation of the various programmes/activities leading to quality improvement
• Acting as a nodal agency of the Institution for coordinating quality-related activities, including adoption and dissemination of best practices
• Development and maintenance of institutional database through MIS for the purpose of maintaining /enhancing the institutional quality
• Development of Quality Culture in the institution
• Preparation of the Annual Quality Assurance Report (AQAR) as per guidelines and parameters of NAAC, to be submitted to NAAC

Benefits
IQAC will facilitate / contribute

• Ensure heightened level of clarity and focus in institutional functioning towards quality enhancement;
• Ensure internalization of the quality culture
• Ensure enhancement and coordination among various activities of the institution and institutionalize all good practices
• Provide a sound basis for decision-making to improve institutional functioning
• Act as a dynamic system for quality changes in HEIs
• Build an organised methodology of documentation and internal communication.

Composition of the IQAC
IQAC may be constituted in every institution under the Chairmanship of the Head of the institution with heads of important academic and administrative units and a few teachers and a few distinguished educationists and representatives of local management and stakeholders.

The composition of the IQAC may be as follows:

• Chairperson: Head of the Institution
• Teachers to represent all level (Three to eight)
• One member from the Management
• Few Senior administrative officers
• One nominee each from local society, Students and Alumni
• One nominee each from Employers /Industrialists/Stakeholders
• One of the senior teachers as the coordinator/Director of the IQAC

The composition of the IQAC will depend on the size and complexity of the institution, accordingly the representation of teachers may vary. It helps the institutions in planning and monitoring. IQAC also gives stakeholders or beneficiaries a cross-sectional participation in the institution’s quality enhancement activities. The guidelines given here are only indicative and will help the institutions for quality sustenance activities.

The membership of such nominated members shall be for a period of two years. The IQAC should meet at least once in every quarter. The quorum for the meeting shall be two-third of the total number of members. The agenda, minutes and Action Taken Reports are to be documented with official signatures and maintained electronically in a retrievable format.
It is necessary for the members of the IQAC to shoulder the responsibilities of generating and promoting awareness in the institution and to devote time for working out the procedural details. While selecting these members several precautions need to be taken.

A few of them are listed below:

• It is advisable to choose persons from various backgrounds who have earned respect for integrity and excellence in their teaching and research. Moreover, they should be aware of the ground realities of the institutional environment. They should be known for their commitment to improving the quality of teaching and learning.
• It is advisable to change the co-ordinator after two to three years to bring new thoughts and activities in the institution.
• It would be appropriate to choose as senior administrators, persons in charge of institutional services such as library, computer center, estate, student welfare, administration, academic tasks, examination and planning and development.
• The management representative should be a person who is aware of the institution’s objectives, limitations and strengths and is committed to its improvement. The local society representatives should be of high social standing and should have made significant contributions to society and in particular to education

The role of the Coordinator
The role of the coordinator of the IQAC is crucial in ensuring the effective functioning of all the members. The coordinator of the IQAC may be a senior/competent person with experience and exposure in quality aspects. She/he may be a full-time functionary or, to start with, she/he may be a senior academic /administrator entrusted with the IQAC as an additional responsibility. Secretarial assistance may be facilitated by the administration. It is essential that the coordinator may have sound knowledge about the computer, data management and its various functions such as usage for effective communication.

Operational Features of the IQAC
Quality assurance is a by-product of ongoing efforts to define the objectives of an institution, to have a work plan to achieve them and to specify the checks and balances to evaluate the degree to which each of the tasks is fulfilled. Hence devotion and commitment to improvement rather than mere institutional control is the basis for devising procedures and instruments for assuring quality. The right balance between the health and growth of an institution needs to be struck. The IQAC has to ensure that whatever is done in the institution for “education” is done efficiently and effectively with high standards. In order to do this, the IQAC will have to first establish procedures and modalities to collect data and information on various aspects of institutional functioning.

The coordinator of the IQAC will have a major role in implementing these functions. The IQAC may derive major support from the already existing units and mechanisms that contribute to the functions listed above. The operational features and functions discussed so far are broad-based to facilitate institutions towards academic excellence and institutions may adapt them to their specific needs.

The Institutions are requested to submit the AQAR after one year from date of Accreditation every year. A functional Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) and timely submission of Annual Quality Assurance Reports (AQARs) are the Minimum Institutional Requirements (MIR) to volunteer for second, third or subsequent cycle’s accreditation. During the institutional visit the NAAC peer teams will interact with the IQACs to know the progress, functioning as well as quality sustenance initiatives undertaken by them.

The Annual Quality Assurance Report (AQAR) may be the part of the Annual Report. The AQAR shall be approved by the statutory bodies of the HEIs (such as Governing Council/ Guidelines of IQAC and submission of AQAR for Affiliated/Constituent Colleges Page 10 Executive Council/Board of Management) for the follow up action for necessary quality enhancement measures.

Revised Accreditation Framework
NAAC has launched Revised Accreditation Framework since July, 2017 and hence AQAR format also modified, in cognizance with the new methodology. The tools and parameters are designed in the new AQAR format are in such a way that the preparation of AQAR would facilitate the HEI’s for upcoming cycles of Accreditation. Data collected/prepared infuses quality enhancement measures undertaken during the years. Further, it also adds quality enhancement and quality sustenance measures undertaken in teaching, learning, research, extension and support activities of the Institution. It is hoped that new AQAR would facilitate Educational Institutions for creating a good database at Institutional level for enhancing the quality culture.

As per the Revised Accreditation Framework (RAF), the NAAC Accredited institutions need to submit the AQAR online. NAAC is in the process of ICT integration in Assessment and Accreditation. The login id for the online submission for AQAR submission will be the e-mail id used for the IIQA. The AQAR submission is part of the post accreditation module, in due course of time. NAAC portal will have the facility to submit the AQAR online and Institutions will receive automated response. The Institutions are requested to submit the AQAR after one year from date of Accreditation every year (For example: if the institutions Accredited by NAAC on 10th December 2018. The AQAR for 2017-18 is opened to submit in the portal on 09th December 2019). HEI’s should complete online AQAR submission within 90 days. (For example: If the AQAR online submission starts on 08-08-2019, then the Institutions should complete submission on or before 07-11-2019).

Mandatory Submission of AQAR by IQAC
The Executive Committee of NAAC has decided that regular submission of AQARs is mandatory for 2nd and subsequent cycles of accreditation with effect from 16th September 2016.

The following are the pre-requisites for submission of IIQA for all Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) opting for 2nd and subsequent cycles of A&A:

• Having a functional IQAC.
• The minutes of IQAC meeting and compliance to the decisions should be uploaded on the institutional website.
• Mandatory submission of AQARs on a regular basis for institutions undergoing the second and subsequent cycles of Assessment and Accreditation by NAAC.
• Upload the AQAR’s on institutional website for access to all stakeholders.