A two-day ‘Assessors Orientation Programme’ organized by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) and co-hosted by Directorate of Colleges, Higher Education Department, commenced at Government College for Women, M A Road with Principal Secretary, Education , Alok Kumar, formally inaugurating the event.
Speaking on the occasion, Principal Secretary expressed hope that the orientation programme would prove beneficial for all the stakeholders and help in enhancing the quality of education. He said the assessment and accreditation exercise conducted by NAAC ensures that the higher educational institutions comply with the standards of quality in terms of teaching-learning processes, research, infrastructure, and student services among other parameters.
The orientation programme is being attended by Principals of various colleges from Kashmir as well as Jammu division.
Members of the visiting NAAC expert team included Dr. G P Upadhaya, Dr. Neelesh Pandey, Dr. S Srikant Swamy, Dr. P Siva Kumar and H V Chandrashekar.
On the occasion, Principal Secretary launched and inaugurated several initiatives of the host college. He launched e-journal ‘Dossier of Muses’ (International Journal of Literacy Studies) and released print edition of the college magazine ‘The Pamposh’.
On the sidelines of the event, Alok Kumar also inaugurated the ‘Centre for Research and Innovation’ a multi-disciplinary Science research laboratory.
He inaugurated multi-disciplinary research lab in Social Sciences, water management lab and Culture lab.
Principal Secretary inaugurated an exhibition held under ‘Empowerment and Entrepreneurship Development Programme’ to showcase the skill and innovation efforts of college students.
Earlier in his special address, Cabinet Secretary, Government of Sikkim, Dr. G.P Upadhaya, said one of the major concerns in higher education sector has been lack of requisite skill set among the educated youth which renders them unemployable. He said the National Education Policy (NEP-2020) aims to address this issue in a holistic manner.
Adviser NAAC, Dr. B S Ponmudiraj, said NAAC has to consider multiple factors during the assessment and accreditation and referred to the challenges inherent in the exercise. He referred to the legal challenges handled by NAAC while stressing on the important role played by the assessors.
Referring to significance of NAAC, Director Colleges, Professor Yasmeen Ashai referred to the need for aligning the assessment and accreditation process with NEP-2020.
“NAAC is playing a crucial role in making quality the defining element of higher education in India. It has encouraged self-evaluation, accountability, autonomy and innovations in higher education,” she said.
In her welcome address, Principal of the host college, Professor Ruhi Jan Kanth said, “NAAC has encouraged self-evaluation, accountability, autonomy and innovations in higher education.” She also referred to the initiatives taken by the institution for creating robust research and skill development ecosystem in line with NEP 2020.
Dr. Abina Habib moderated the proceedings of the session while Dr. Sameer Koul presented vote of thanks.
Later, the students of Music department of the host institution presented college tarana.
