TRIUMPH OVER THE NAAC and NIRF THE ETHICAL and THE RIGHT WAY
* It is best to have a wise Dir IQAC or any other senior faculty leading in NAAC and NIRF process from within the institute. However, be sure of his/her competence. Don’t take any internal/external self proclaiming “I” specialist, thumping chest, “I know all’ and laying claims of having guided earlier institutes, or been on the peer team etc. on his/her face value. Even if true, it rarely helps. Do a deep credibility check and assess true standing, possible in various IQAC deliberations on quality standards and processes before you line up behind him/her to lead the process. I have seen institutes going down the drains and meeting a disaster, relying on so-called expert with shallow knowledge. ‘Read the content, not just the cover page’. Because, you won’t be able to blame anyone afterwards for a poor grade or a rank handed down to the institute.
* Never call an external consultant or a team to your institute to collect collate and fill-in data in DVV templates, write IIQA, AQAR, SSR, SAR or fill-in NIRF portal. Do it yourself. No outsider can do this as good as you. If some consultant agrees to undertake this kind of stuff, do carry out a worthiness check of his/her credentials. He/she might not be worth engaging at all. No external consultant worth a name would ever accept such a work where he/she has to depend on/run around departments and schools faculty to extract data or undertake building a fake data.
– A good external consultant will provide complete clarity on the metrics, undertake accreditation Diagonistic /status audit, find gaps, recommend how to enhance capacity, and thus a higher score on each metric, make a plan, set specific targets and layout a roadmap of operating mechanism as well as time-bound tracking system for plugging gaps and building the much needed priority processes like OBE/CBME, assisting in writing policies, plans, qualitative metrics and best practices.
* Beware of various companies and individuals lurking around your institutes, engaged in an unethical business of providing faculty on papers, doing fake ‘green audit’, publishing research papers on the faculty behalf, transferring funds for fake consultancy and research projects to institutes and in return, receiving back the transferred amount with heavy interest in different form and heads. It can land institutes into a serious trouble and even face blacklisting.
* Beware of plagiarism in writing qualitative metrics and policies copied from other institutes or NAAC website. Institutes are getting nudged. Write your own.
-Build a strong inclusive capacity and triumph on pure merit. Good to get mentored, but only from a true expert with superior proven credentials.
-Prof JR Sharma
