QUALITY ENHANCEMENT CELL (QEC)

QUALITY ENHANCEMENT CELL

Ziauddin University has always played a leadership role in accepting and adapting best practices in the field of education. Quality Enhancement Cell (QEC) of Ziauddin University has the commitment to ensure that educational provision of all the constituent institutions of the university are operating with the appropriate academic standard as provided by the respective accrediting bodies and are taking a deliberate step to bring about continual improvement in learning experiences of the student. QEC has developed a culture which recognized the importance of quality assurance in approval, monitoring and periodic review of academic programme, Assessment of students, quality assurance of teaching staff, learning resources, student support and information to the stakeholders.

Mission of QEC

Quality Enhancement Cell (QEC) of Ziauddin University intends to bring advancement in the community of learning by assuring incessant improvement in the quality of academic programs through accountability, review of design and policies, systematic documentation, analysis of curriculum through identification and support of best practices in the field of education.

Objective

To ensure high standards and continuous improvement of all academic programs, research and educational processes within ZU.
To ensure consistency in the quality assurance and improvement processes being used across ZU.
To regularly enhance and improve academic practices across ZU through periodic program reviews.
To conform to the rules and regulations of the concerned regulatory bodies.

Mr. Muhammad Adnan Fuzail

Director QEC

Email: [email protected]

Contact no. : (021) 35862937 ext. 2525

Ms. Zareen Hussain

Deputy Director QEC

Email: [email protected]

Contact no. : (021) 35862937 ext. 2524

Ms. Syeda Fatima Shah

Senior QEC Officer

Email: [email protected]

Ms. Syeda Iqra Hassan

Senior QEC Officer

Email: [email protected]

Ms. Sadaf Memon

Data Analyst

Email: [email protected]

From January 31st to February 2nd, 2023, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) conducted the Institutional Performance Evaluation (IPE) of Ziauddin University. The IPE review panel, consisting of eight members, had the primary objective of evaluating the overall performance of the university. As part of their assessment, the panel held meetings with key stakeholders, including the Vice Chancellor, Deans, Directors, faculty members, and students. Additionally, they visited all the facilities and sites of Ziauddin University.

During the evaluation period, the IPE review panel engaged in comprehensive interactions with various individuals and departments, aiming to gain a holistic understanding of the university’s functioning.

The IPE review panel commended the university for its exemplary practices and recognized the outstanding efforts of the Quality Enhancement Cell (QEC).

Report of Workshop on ‘ Faculty Professional Development ‘

The Self-Institutional Performance Evaluation of Ziauddin University was conducted on 30th and 31st March, 2021. Engr. Nadyme Akhtar Director QEC, Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology was invited as an External member of the Evaluator Team. While Director ORIC, Director Audit, Chairperson Software Engineering Department, Principal of College of Rehabilitation Sciences and Director Centre for Law and Technology was Internal Evaluators of IPE. The objective of the Self-IPE was to evaluate the overall performance of Ziauddin University and status of implementation of IPE compliance and result achieved.

March 16-17, 2023

The Self-MS/M.Phil. & PhD Program Review of Ziauddin University was conducted on March 16-17, 2023. Dr. Muhammad Rehan, Director QEC, Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology was invited as external member of the review team. While Honorable Vice Chancellor Ziauddin University was the team lead, Prof. Dr. Talat Mirza, Executive Director, Research Department Ziauddin University, Dr. Saad Jawaid Khan Professor & Chairperson Department of Biomedical Engineering Ziauddin University, Director and Deputy Director QEC were internal members of the review Team. The review was started with welcome note and brief presentation was given by Deputy Director QEC. After that review team assessed the program, student and faculty files, conducted meeting with faculty members and postgraduate students and visited classrooms, library, labs and overall facilities provided to postgraduate students of ZU. In the exit meeting with VC review team shared their feedback and appreciated the efforts of QEC.

March 24-25, 2021

The Self-MS/M.Phil. & PhD Programme Review of Ziauddin University was Conducted on March 24-25, 2021. Prof. Dr. Saba Sohail, Chairperson, Department of Radiology, DOW University of Health Sciences and Dr. Zeeshan Alam Nayyar, Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Physics, University of Karachi were invited as external members of the review team. While Dean of faculty of Engineering Science Technology & Management and Professor of Department of Biochemistry was an internal members of the review Team. The review was started with welcome note and brief presentation was given by Director QEC. After that review team assessed the program, student and faculty files, conducted meeting with faculty members and postgraduate students and visited classrooms, library, labs and overall facilities provided to postgraduate students of ZU. In the exit meeting with VC review team shared their feedback and appreciated the efforts of QEC.

Deputy Director QEC attended the webinar on: “Lean Six Sigma” on 16^th January, 2023 organized by TUV-GA.
Deputy Director QEC conducted a session for Doctor of Podiatric Medicine Batch 3 on “Introduction to QEC” on 18^th January 2023.
Deputy Director QEC conducted a session for BDS Batch 14 on “Introduction to QEC” on 8^th February 2023.
Data Analyst QEC conducted a session for MBBS Batch 27 on “Introduction to QEC” on 27^th February 2023.
In 2023 Sindh HEC organize reviewer training for QA professionals based on various Modules. Deputy Director QEC successfully completed all modules of training.

Trainings/Workshop/Seminars/Conference

Quality Enhancement Cell with the Collaboration of NED university conducted first International conference on Future trends of Quality in Higher Education on May 16 & 17, 2022. International Speakers from, Turkey, Bahrain, Romania and Gibraltar were invited as guest speaker. while, many universities from all over Pakistan participated and presented paper in conference.
On July 19, 2022 QEC organized an online session on preparation of SAR for faculty members of Ziauddin University. Mr. Imran ullah Khan Marwat, Director Quality Assurance Higher Education division conducted session.
Director and Deputy Director QEC of ZU conducted a session at Nazeer Hussain University in Karachi, on Institutional Performance Evaluation (IPE) for their QEC team and faculty members on October 21, 2021. They discussed the relevance of IPE and outlines the steps for preparing a University Portfolio Report that meets 11 IPE standards and includes any evidence needed to perform an IPE visit. Mr. Bilal Alvi, Vice-Chancellor of Nazeer Hussain University, praises efforts of Quality Enhancement Cell of Ziauddin University and thanks them for assisting his team in preparing for the HEC’s IPE inspection.
The session on how to prepare SAR was led by Deputy Director QEC for Program Teams, she presented insight into how to construct a Self-Assessment Report and how it might succor to achieve goals and mission of Ziauddin University.
Director and Deputy Director QEC actively participated in Progress Review Meeting conducted by HEC on February 3-5, 2022 at NED University.
QEC arranged sessions on Importance of Quality Assurance and Feedbacks for new batches in 2022.
QEC arranged session on Quality Assurance in Higher Education for MSN program on 31^st March, 2022 at Ziauddin Faculty of Nursing & Midwifery.
Director QEC conducted session on Implementation of Modern tools and Methodologies for Quality Assurance in HEIs Organized by NED university. QECs of various universities and faculty of NED participated in the session.
QEC team joined the online session “Myths & Reality of Quality Assurance in Higher Education in Pakistan” on 26 November, 2021 organized by University of Education Lahore.
Deputy Director attended the Capacity Building Workshop: “Conducting Effective Institutional Performance Evaluation” on 2nd December, 2021 organized by Indus University.
Deputy Director and QEC officer attended a session on ‘Impact Ranking – Universities’ Impact on Societies’ on 23 December, 2021 organized by PAF-KIET.
QEC team joined the online session on “The Missing Links of Quality Assurance” on 11 January, 2022 organized by Newport University.
Deputy Director attended a workshop on Design and Implementation of Quality Management System for Universities: A Quality Assurance and Enhancement Framework on 22-23 February, 2022 organized by City University.
Director and Deputy Director attended and actively participated in Progress Review Meeting on 3-5 February, 2022 held by HEC.
Deputy Director and Data Analyst attended PNQAHE International Conference on 8-10 March, 2022 organized by Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur.
Deputy Director attended International Conference on Inclusion, Innovation, Leadership and Quality in Higher Education on March 24, 2022 by Greenwich University.
QEC team joined online session “Quality Paradigm of the Developed Nations – Lesson for the Developing Countries” on April 7, 2022 organized by Lahore Garrison University

QEC Activity 2020-2021

QEC arranged a workshop “Teaching in the Digital Age” on December 19, 2019 for faculty members to provide guidelines for designing teaching and learning in the digital era. Dr. Muhammad Aamir Professor & Associate Dean, Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology conducted The session facilitated the participants to modify the thinking and attitudes towards learning.

On June 28, 2021 Assessment of SAR (Self-Assessment Report) M.Phil. and PhD Programmes Faculty of Pharmacy, Ziauddin University was organised by QEC. Dr. Rahela Ikram Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacology, University of Karachi was invited as external member of the assessment team. The purpose of this exercise is to improve the quality of programs offered in Ziauddin University and to verify that the said programmes meet their objectives and institutional goals.

QEC Activity 2020-2021

On February 17, 2021 Assessment of SAR (Self-Assessment Report) Master of Philosophy in Physical Therapy Programme, Ziauddin College of Rehabilitation sciences was organised by QEC. Mr. Syed Hasan Abbas Rizvi Principal School of Physiotherapy, Liaquat National Hospital and Medical College was invited as external member of the assessment team. The purpose of this exercise is to improve the quality of programmes offered in Ziauddin University by preparing the Self-Assessment Report and its evaluation.

S.No.	Activity	Date	Organizer
1.	Digital Transformation in Higher Education	02/07/2020	Ripah International University, Islamabad
2.	Assessment in online Education	17/12/2020	Indus University, Karachi
3.	Pakistan and its Education trend, quality and challenges	3/12/2020	ILMA University
4.	Interactive Session of MD(QAA) with QECs	30/9/2020	HEC, QAA
5.	Elsevier-HEC Workshop on Journal Indexing in Scopus	21/01/2021	HEC
6.	Developing Competencies for General Education Courses as per New Undergraduate Education Policy	2/2/2021	Jinnah Sindh Medical University
7.	2^nd International Conference on Quality Assurance in Academia (ICQAA) 2020-2021	9-10/2/20201	ILMA University
8.	Introduction to Quality Assurance for MBBS 1^st Year	25/2/2021	QEC, Ziauddin University
9.	Introduction to Quality Assurance for BDS 1^st Year	3/3/2021	QEC, Ziauddin University
10.	Pre-IPE Review Preparation	3/3/2021	Muhammad Ali Jinnah University

Activity 1

On August 20th, 2020 Assessment of SAR (Self-Assessment Report) of Ziauddin College of Media Sciences was organized by QEC. Mr. Nabhan Karim, Lecturer & Head of Media Productions of IoBM was invited as external member of the assessment team. The purpose of this exercise is to improve the quality of programmes offered in Ziauddin University by preparing the Self-Assessment Report and its evaluation.

Activity 2

On September 10, 2020 Assessment of SAR (Self-Assessment Report) of two programmes BS-MT Radiation Therapy & BS-MT Radiological Imaging of Ziauddin College of Medical Technology was organised by QEC. Dr. Meha Fatima, Assistant Professor, DOW University of Health Sciences was invited as external member of the assessment team. The purpose of this exercise is to improve the quality of programmes offered in Ziauddin University by preparing the Self-Assessment Report and its evaluation.

Activity 3

On March 10, 2021 Assessment of SAR (Self-Assessment Report) Master of Science-Speech Language Pathology, Ziauddin College of Speech Language and Hearing Sciences was organised by QEC. Dr. Shaista Naz Assistant Professor, Department of Special Education, University of Karachi was invited as external member of the assessment team. The purpose of this exercise is to improve the quality of programmes offered in ZU by preparing the Self-Assessment Report and its evaluation.

Self-Institutional Performance Evaluation

Self-MS/M.Phil. & PhD Programmes Review

The Self-MS/M.Phil. & PhD Programme Review of Ziauddin University was conducted on March 24-25, 2021. Prof. Dr. Saba Sohail, Chairperson, Department of Radiology, DOW University of Health Sciences and Dr. Zeeshan Alam Nayyar, Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Physics, University of Karachi were invited as external members of the review team. The purpose of the review was to assess and improve the quality of postgraduate programmes of Ziauddin University.

Staff Development Activities

Seminar on “Effectiveness of Institutional Performance” was organized by Indus University on October 4, 2017. Ms. Zareen Hussain Deputy Director, Quality Enhancement Cell of Ziauddin University attended the seminar.

On March 27, 2019, Institute of Business Administration organised a workshop on “Putting Blooms Taxonomy to Work”. Ms. Zareen Hussain Deputy Director and Ms. Sadaf Memon Data Analyst attended the workshop.

QEC Activities

Progress Review Meeting and Training of QEC’s on 15-16th April, 2019 by QAA, HEC

The Quality Assurance Agency of Higher Education Commission organised Yearly Progress Review Meeting and Training of QEC’s on 15-16th April, 2019 at Hotel Grand Ambassador, Islamabad. Ms. Zareen Hussain, Deputy Director QEC represented Ziauddin University and made the requisite presentation highlighting the progress made during the year 2018-19.

Dr. Arshia Samin contributed and participated by presenting paper in a “National Conference on Quality Assurance in Academia” organised by ILMA University On 25th June, 2019.

Seminar on “Use of Feedback Received Through Various Surveys” by QEC, Ziauddin University on 28th June, 2019

Quality Enhancement Cell of Ziauddin University organised National Level Seminar “Use of feedback received through various surveys” on June 28, 2019 at Ziauddin University. More than 10 universities’ representatives from Karachi and also from Lahore participated in the seminar.

Self MS/M.Phil & PhD Review by QEC, Ziauddin University on 4th April, 2019

QEC of Ziauddin Univeristy organised MS/Mphil & PhD Review of all Postgraduate programme of Ziauddin Univeristy on 4th April, 2019. Prof. Dr. Shaheen Sharafat, Dean Basic Medical Sciences and Director –Dow Research and Diagnostic Laboratory from Dow University of Health Sciences, was the External Evaluator. As per the directives of HEC, universities are required to perform reviews on yearly basis to align MS/M.Phil and PhD programmes according to HEC guidelines.

Self-Institutional Performance Evaluation by QEC, Ziauddin University on 29th and 30th May, 2019

On 29-30th May 2019 Self-Institutional Performance Evaluation of Ziauddin University was organised by QEC of ZU. Mr. Muizz Alam Director QEC of Iqra University and Mr. Fawwad Mahmood Butt Director QEC of ILMA University conducted IPE of ZU as an External Evaluator. This exercise is mandatory for all DAIs by HEC to improve the Quality of Universities and Institutions and develop a system of progression through self-appraisal.

Contribution to QA in HEIs of Karachi

Arshia Samin Director QEC, conducted Institutional Performance Evaluation of 3 different Universities i.e Dow University of Health Sciences, Jinnah Sindh Medical University and SZABIST, Karachi as an External Evaluator.

Staff Development Activities

On November 15th 2017, a seminar was organized by Institute of Business Administration IBA, on “Identification and prioritization of critical issues in promoting the Quality Culture in HEIs”. Ms. Zareen Hussain Deputy Director QEC represented Ziauddin University

Seminar on “Six Sigma in Higher Education” was organized by Institute of Business Management IoBM on 21st November, 2017. Purpose of this seminar was to give awareness as how six sigma techniques can be implemented in HEIs to enhance quality of education. Ms. Zareen Hussain, Deputy Director and Ms. Sadaf Data Analyst, QEC participated in the seminar.

“Erasmus+Workshop-SSUET”, Karachi was organized by Higher Education Commission in Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology on December 18, 2017. Ms. Zareen Hussain Deputy Director QEC attended the workshop. The objective of this workshop was to inform HEIs about Erasmus scholarships procedure.

Arshia Samin Director and Ms. Zareen Hussain Deputy Director, QEC successfully completed 2 days training on Educational Organization Management Systems (EOMS) Professional, Based on ISO 21001 and Lean Daily Management Systems, organized by Impact Performance Solutions (US) & Quality Systems International (QSI) at Hotel Mehran, Karachi on 6-7 April, 2018.

The Quality Assurance Agency of Higher Education Commission organized a 02 days activity for the Directors of QECs on 18- 19thApril, 2018 at Margala Hotel, Islamabad. This activity was aimed to strengthen the Quality Assurance System in Pakistani Degree awarding institutions through Internal Quality Assurance Mechanism and External Quality Assurance Mechanism. Dr.Arshia Samin Naqvi, Director QEC represented Ziauddin University. Meeting comprised of presentations of each university’s internal quality assurance practices by the QEC heads. Presentation of Ziauddin University was rated best and applauded because all the programme of Ziauddin University are accredited by the respective accrediting bodies.

Dow university of Health Sciences arranged guest speaker session on “Adaptation and Implementation of HEC plagiarism Policy at HEIs” on June 25, 2018. Ms. Zareen Hussain Deputy Director and Ms. Sadaf Memon Data Analyst attended the session. Session was intended to highlight the importance of turnitin and define various forms in which Plagiarism exhibits itself.

Report of Meeting of Heads of QECs with QAA of HEC

Quality Enhancement Cell of Ziauddin University

Quality Enhancement Cell organized a symposium on “Managing Quality of Assessment in HEIs” on 15th May, 2018. The purpose of this Symposium was to discuss the practices of assessment and the challenges faced by universities in process of assessment set. The Symposium also aimed at providing inputs to HEC for future to bring uniformity in processes in light of problems faced by students and universities.

The Symposium had three major objectives:

To share the best practices in the field of Assessment.
To identify issues warranting further discussion based on the experiences of different universities.
To provide inputs for the drafting of a recommendation for consideration by HEC.

The Symposium was attended by representatives from 12 Universities i.e. Baqai Medical University, IBA, SZABIST, IoBM, ILMA, FAST, DHA Suffa, Sindh Univeristy Jamshoro, ISRA University, DOW University of Health Sciences, Indus University, Liaquat College of Medicine & Dentistry. The symposium was linked on HEC national circuit through Ziauddin University video link.

Proceedings of the Symposium started with Tilawat e Quran. Dr. Arshia Samin Naqvi, Director QEC Ziauddin University introduced the participants and upraised about the importance of the topic. A welcome address was given by Vice-Chancellor Prof. Dr. Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui who focused on the importance of QECs. He also highlighted some of the emerging issues including the fact that the methodologies of teaching is changing and suggested that in future these types of discussions should be conducted on the said topic.

In setting the scope of deliberations for the Symposium, Mr Nadeem Zafar, Controller Examination, Ziauddin University gave presentation on Managing Quality of Assessment in Ziauddin University. He explained about the tools used in assessment, working of MCQ bank and the processes involved in assuring quality of exams e.g use of Table of Specification and post hoc analysis.

The three hours long activity was divided into following:

Presentations on Managing Quality of Assessment in various universities.
Discussion on Issues that emerge during the process of assessment

Drafting Recommendations for HEC.

Presentations contributed by participants were followed by exchange of experiences that enriched the discussions and raised issues on: the centralized grading system, assessment of analytical thinking, Credit transfer policy, standardization of transcript, course coding and PhD thesis review by external examiners.

Finally it was concluded and recommended that all accrediting bodies need to collaborate with HEC and come to the same page especially regarding the grading system and semester system.

Ms. Zareen Hussain Deputy Director QEC gave the vote of thanks and mentioned that QEC of Ziauddin University is honored by the presence of QECs of so many HEIs and thanked Prof. Dr. Qasim Raza Siddiqui for supporting and guiding QEC in all its endeavors.

At the end of the symposium certificates were presented to the participants by the Vice-Chancellor of Ziauddin University.

IPE Visit

Institutional Performance Evaluation (IPE) is of vital importance for all the DAIs that desire to meet the international standards. Higher Education Commission of Pakistan has developed eleven Institutional Performance Evaluation (IPE) Standards for a complete assessment of Degree Awarding Institutions (DAIs). To meet the medium term framework development targets for 2016-2020, all the DAIs are required to be evaluated against these standards. The primary requirement for the evaluation of an institution is submission of University Portfolio Report which is to be prepared as per the IPE Manual provided by the HEC and submitted to HEC prior to the visit. In order to get the mandatory IPE done, a very comprehensive Portfolio Report of Ziauddin University was prepared and submitted to HEC. The Institutional Performance Evaluation (IPE) visit was then scheduled by HEC from 11th to 13th April 2017and carried out by a three member inspection team.

The first day of the visit started with a meeting with of the team with the VC. The VC welcomed the members and gave a brief introduction of the university. The team members spent the rest of the day in checking all the documents placed on the tables as evidences for each standard.

Second day of the visit comprised of meeting of the inspection team members with the Registrar, Controller Examination, Deans/ Heads of the constituent colleges, select number of associate professors, assistant professors and lecturers. The team members also had a meeting with senior students from different academic Programmes of the university.

The team members visited different facilities of the university on the third day and ended their evaluation with an exit meeting with the VC.

The HEC team members highly appreciated the academic Programmes of Ziauddin University and stated that they were surprised with the level of satisfaction and motivation of faculty and students.

To complete the evaluation process a comprehensive evaluation report will be prepared by the HEC inspectors and shared with Ziauddin University in near future.

Training and Progress Review Meeting of QEC’S 19th and 20th April, 2017 QAA, HEC at Islamabad:

HEC “Progress Review Meeting of QEC’s” and training on IPE visit and M.Phil/PhD Programme review visit was organized by Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), HEC at Margalla Hotel, Islamabad. The participants included Directors, Deputy Director, Assistant Director and Head of QEC’s from different universities of Pakistan.

Ms Zareen Hussain, Deputy Director QEC represented Ziauddin University in the meeting.

The meeting started at 9:30 a.m. with the recitation of Holy Quran and welcome statement by the Director General of QAA Prof. Dr. Rafique Baloch. He discussed the purpose and importance of progress review meeting and training and how it can help QECs to meet QA standards and criteria.

On the first day all the QEC’s representatives gave presentations. Some highlights of the presentations were:

Current standing of QEC in the institution that includes full time Permanent Staff, membership of Statutory Bodies and available resources.
Analysis of last year’s performance as per scorecard of 2015-16 that included identification of weak areas.
Steps taken for addressing those weak areas (implementation status and action plan).
The hindrances in achieving the targets.
Help required from HEC.

Each presentation was followed by questions answer session. After wards DG QAA presented the future scope and strategies to strengthen QECs in DAIs, which are as follows:

QECs will be part of University Act
Ranking/Scoring process will be revised
SAR will be revised and there would be Peer Review instead of SA team.
QAA will send reports to Vice Chancellors of all DAIs regarding importance and presence of Quality Enhancement cells in universities
QAA will visit DAIs for M.Phil/PhD Programme review

The meeting ended at 5:30 pm.

Day 2 began with the recitation of Holy Quran. Mr. Muhammad Shoaib, Project Director Quality Assurance Agency, conducted the training session on pre visit preparation for IPE. He discussed about University Portfolio (UPR) and all the eleven standards mentioned in IPE manual and required evidence against each question or standards. He described the approvals, policies, approval of policies and minutes of meetings are required as evidence. Also, notifications of certain things and its policy of distribution are also required. For better outcome QECs were suggested by QAA to perform IPE by itself before external IPE visit.

Moving forward, “Pre Visit Preparation for MS/M.Phil and PhD Programme Review” was conducted by Mr. Shoaib Irshad. He discussed the issues, its measures and what should be done before HEC visit. He also emphasized on peer review process for MS/M.Phil and PhD Program. Further he discussed the criteria and importance of PhD review. Some important aspects were:

HEC Approved Supervisor
Programme should be recognized by HEC
Validation of academic programme
Acceptance of degrees
Value Addition

Regarding the preparation of data as per requirement of review visit three types of proforma are required to be filled before review:

Student Proforma
Programme Proforma
Faculty Proforma

For each Programme these Proforma will be filled separately and certain documents would be required as evidence which included complete student files, PhD and non PhD faculty files.

Then steps of review process were discussed:

QAA will send email to QECs to MS/M.Phil and PhD reviews and share Proforma (Programme Proforma, student Proforma and faculty Proforma) to fill and send back to QAA before deadline.
QAA will form a panel
Size of panel and days of visits depends on the size of Student body or no. of Programmes
After visit panelist prepare an initial report/first draft and submit it to QAA
First draft will be shared with universities for review. If university found any refinement then send it back to QAA with valid proof within 1 week.

Afterwards mock visit conduction was also discussed and suggested that Vice-chancellor should be involved in mock visit Some important points are:

One PhD faculty cannot supervise more than five PhD students.
Adherence to HEC Criteria
Load of Supervisor
Student teacher ratio
Involvement of senior faculty members

In the closing session, the DG QAA emphasized to arrange Mock IPE and MS/M.Phil and PhD visit before actual visit. The session ended with the distribution of certificates among participants by the DG QAA.

Introduction of QEC to the New Entrants

Ziauddin University has always strived to ensure the best standards of education, training, and research in its academic Programmes. Quality in education is a concern that requires the involvement of all the stakeholders. Student body being one of the important stakeholders needs to be informed of the Quality Assurance procedures being implied in the various Programmes of the university.

At Ziauddin University, new batches of MBBS and BDS Programmes were taken in during the month of November 2014. Two separate sessions on “Introduction of QEC” were organized for:

MBBS programme on 12th Nov. 2014
BDS programme on 27th Nov 2014

Dr. Arshia Samin, Director QEC conducted the sessions in which she gave the concept of quality and introduced the working of Quality Enhancement Cell at Ziauddin University. She motivated the students to take responsibility for their own learning by participating positively in all the quality assurance activities and described the various proformas that the students are expected to complete and are used as tools for programme evaluation.

Visit of QEC Director to SMBB Medical University, Larkana.

Dr. Arshia Samin, Director QEC Ziauddin University, in response to an invitation from the Registrar of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University Larkana, conducted a one -day workshop on “Quality Assurance” on 8th Dec 2014, at their campus. The workshop was attended by a large number of senior faculty of the host university. The participants discussed the importance of quality assurance procedures in Higher Educational Institutions and they were facilitated to prepare a list of the various factors that determine the quality of a study programme. The importance of the role of Quality Enhancement Cells in improving the quality of teaching/learning Programmes was also discussed.

At the end, Dr. Arshia was presented with a momento of SMBB Medical University by Prof. Dr. Sikandar Ali Mughal, Registrar of the university and a gift of the traditional Sindhi shawl by the Principal of Chandka Medical College.

A Novel Initiative

It’s always a general perception among the student community that their grievances are not given a heed. They think that their problems are not taken seriously and not conveyed to the higher authorities. In order to make the students actively participate in improving the quality of their educational programme, QEC of Ziauddin University has installed a Complaint box on the outer wall of the QEC office. Students are free to put their complaints in the box. Weekly, the complaints are collected, reports are prepared and forwarded to the concerned department heads/ deans for further action. It has been a very useful initiative and students are finding it very helpful in conveying their problems.

Awareness Regarding Quality Assurance

Following the tradition, this academic year i.e 2015 to 2016 started with the introduction of Quality Enhancement Cell and its activities to the new batches of students. The Director and Deputy Director QEC conducted awareness sessions for the students of various Programmes and informed them of the role that they can play in improving the quality of their learning Programmes.

Self-Assessment in Academic Programmes of Ziauddin University:

Ziauddin University has a commitment and associated procedures for the assurance of the quality and standards of its academic Programmes. Quality Enhancement Cell (QEC) of Ziauddin University has endeavored to develop a culture which recognizes the importance of quality in the entire educational environment. To achieve this, QEC follows the standards and guidelines for internal quality assurance provided by Quality Assurance Agency of HEC. Implementing a strategy for the continuous enhancement of quality, self-assessment reports are prepared by the programme teams of the various departments.

Since July 2015 QEC has successfully completed the SARs with the help of programme teams of more than 20 Programmes including all the BS Programmes of Medical Technology, ADPT, PPDPT, MSN, BSN and a number of MS and MD Programmes.

Subject experts from other institutions of Karachi were invited as external assessors for reviewing the SARs and their critique and valuable input has been converted into action plans to be followed up in future.

Activities Related to Self-Assessment Reports

First cycle of evaluation of academic Programmes according to the requirements of QAA of HEC has been completed. Second cycle of programme evaluation has started with the following Programmes:

BS in SL&HS
DPT
BS in Clinical Lab Sciences

Members of the Programme Teams nominated for the purpose are:

BS in Speech Language and Hearing Sciences

Ms. Rabab Sehr
Mr. Zafar Wafai

BS in Clinical Lab. Sciences

Ms. Humera Rashid
Ms. Qamarunnisa Naz

Doctor of Physical Therapy

Mr. Mohammad Usman Khan
Mr. Ali Farhad

Meetings with individual programme teams for the Self-Assessment report started in late December and continued till May 2017.

Report of Training on “QUALITY ASSURANCE & GOVERNANCE” Funded by the Tertiary Education Support Programme (TESP) of HEC

A training programme on “Quality Assurance & Governance” was organized by the Institute of Management Sciences, Peshawar and funded by Tertiary Education Support Programme. It was held from April 24 to April 26, 2017 at Hotel Mehran, Karachi.

Director QEC Dr. Arshia was invited for the training session.

Participants of the training included representatives from both public and private sector DAIs and were mostly from the administrative or examination departments or from QECs.

Dr. Azam Ali Khwaja was the resource person for the first day. He discussed about the changes in higher education administration that occurred in the wake of implementation of 18th Amendment in the country.

Second day session was facilitated by Dr Farmanullah. He discussed the quality assurance mechanisms that are provided by the QAA of HEC. He explained all the criteria of Self-Assessment Reports and Institutional Performance Evaluation.

IT Training Stream for Quality assurance and Governance was the topic for the third day and was facilitated by Mr Imran Batada. He educated the participants regarding IT systems in Higher Education sector and gave a good overview of CMS, LMS and other IT systems. He also talked about Cloud computing and importance of Business Intelligence systems.

This three day programme was a very informative and useful one. The best thing about the training programme was facilitation by the experienced resource persons who very aptly provided glimpses of their personal experiences with different DAIs of Pakistan and abroad and kept the participants involved and active till late evening, each day.

The Quality Assurance Agency of Higher Education Commission organized a 02 days activity for the Directors of QECs on 18- 19^th April, 2018 at Margala Hotel, Islamabad. This activity was aimed to strengthen the Quality Assurance System in Pakistani Degree awarding institutions through Internal Quality Assurance Mechanism and External Quality Assurance Mechanism.

Dr. Arshia Samin Naqvi, Director QEC represented Ziauddin University in the meeting.

First day of the meeting comprised of presentations of each university’s internal quality assurance practices by the QEC heads. Presentation of Ziauddin University was rated best and applauded because all the programmes of Ziauddin University are accredited by the respective accrediting bodies. Second day of the activity included training and discussion on the revised Quality Assessment criteria of QECs developed by HEC, which was shared with all Degree Awarding Institutions to bridge the gap between Internal & External Quality Assurance System.

Important points on which deliberations were done during the two days are as follows:

Strategic planning of each Degree Awarding Institution is of utmost importance and will carry high scores.
In cases where some requirement is not available in the Act of a university, amendment to the Act is not mandatory. Approval from the Patron (Governor) is enough to fulfill the HEC requirement.
Regarding faculty appointment: HEC advised to keep record of notifications for adoption of HEC/ accrediting body appointment criteria and hard copies of advertisements.
For three mandatory evaluations i.e faculty and teacher evaluation by students and course evaluation by the respective faculty member, a password to the university evaluations link has to be shared with the HEC.
For MPhil/ MS/ PhD programmes:

Act/ Charter of the university must approve of the programme.
NOC of accrediting body should be available.
Curriculum of the programme should be in line with the HEC requirements.
Admission requirements must fulfill HEC criteria. In case an applicant falls short of some requirement deficiency courses are appreciated.
Duration of the programme and semester wise breakup of workload/ credit hours should be available.
PhD faculty should be registered with HEC.
Maximum time allowed for MPhil and PhD is inclusive of all the extensions given to a student. This should be strictly taken care of.
PhD thesis review policy i.e by two foreign experts should be strictly followed. Purpose of this is to develop linkages with foreign universities by initiating joint research projects.
One published paper will be accepted. Acceptance of a paper by a research journal does not fulfill the HEC requirement.
Notifications of approval of programme by statutory bodies are mandatory.
Policies e.g freezing of semester policy should be available in hard copy.
Anti plagiarism policy as a written document should be available and notified to all the stakeholders.
For admission to MPhil/ MS programmes 50% score in GAT and for PhD 70% score in National and 60% in international GRE is mandatory.
Comprehensive exam after completion of 18 credit hour course work, is mandatory and passing in both Oral and written exam is required. Only 2 attempts are allowed in comprehensive exam.
Emails may be used to send the thesis for review but personal email addresses shouldn’t be used. All correspondence should be done on official email addresses.
Different nomenclatures shouldn’t be used in the same class of MS/MPhil (with or without thesis.) In case of MS without thesis, the student has to do a 6 credit hour research work to be able to apply for PhD.
Each university must work on standardized course codes for their PG programmes.
HEC advised to highlight the research area of its PhD supervisors in the prospectus or on the website. Also mention the number of vacant seats with each supervisor. This will attract students having interest in the given area.
Thesis writing workshops should be conducted at proposal writing stage.
HEC also advises to improve facilities for PhD students e.g provide exclusive workstations in the library, PhD lounges for research students, employ peer learning/ mentoring methods.

Ziauddin University is a member of The International Association of Universities (IAoU). The association was created under the auspices of UNESCO in 1950, is a membership-based organization serving the global higher education community through: expertise & trends analysis, publications & portals, advisory services, peer-to-peer learning, events, global advocacy.

Ziauddin University is a member of Tallories Network. It is one of the largest international network of universities committed to strengthen the civic role and social responsibilities of Higher Education Institutions.

Ziauddin University is a member of The Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU). The mission of ACU is to promote and support excellence in higher education not only to benefit individuals but socities throughout the common wealth and beyond.

Ziauddin University is a member of Asia-Pacific Quality Network (APQN). APQN I striving for Enhancing the Quality of Higher Education in the Asia-Pacific Region. It also dissolving Boundaries for a Quality Region.

Ziauddin University became member of Pakistan Network for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (PNQAHE) in 2022. PNQAHE is an organization of HEIs across the country and is a platform of QECs personnel of Higher Education Institutions to share, transform and disseminate information/procedures to ensure the standardize quality education in HEIs of Pakistan.