QUALITY ENHANCEMENT CELL
University of the Punjab, Lahore.
Ref. No:031/QEC
Date: 29-12-2009
To:
Dean/Director/Principal/Chairman/Chairperson, Program Team Members,
i)
Faculty of Engineering and Technology
ii)
Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences
University of the Punjab,
Lahore.
Subject:
Proceedings for Minutes of the Meeting Held on 18-12-2009
A pre planned meeting was held on Friday 18th December 2009 at 10:00 am at Institute of Quality
and Technology Management (IQTM) under Quality Enhancement Cell (QEC), University of the
Punjab, Lahore.
In Attendance:
i.
Prof. Dr. Aamir Ijaz (Director QEC)
ii.
Prof. Dr. Zafar Rashid (Professor, IQTM)
iii.
Col ® Fazal Ur Rehman (Senior Faculty Member/Program Manager, IQTM)
iv.
Dr. Ayyaz Muhammad (Institute of Chemical Engineering & Technology)
v.
Dr. Amir Shafeeq (Institute of Chemical Engineering & Technology)
vi.
Dr. Muhammad Kamran (Department of Metallurgy & Materials Engineering, CEET)
vii.
Mr. Muhammad Usman Rahim (Centre for Coal Technology)
viii.
Dr. Hafiz Khalid Ahmad (Department of Economics)
ix.
Syed Shahid Hussain (Department of Economics)
Absent:
x.
Department of Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering
xi.
Textile Processing Technology
xii.
Engineering Research Division
xiii.
Department of Library & Information Sciences
xiv.
Institute of Administrative Sciences
xv.
Human Resources Development Centre
Institute of Quality & Technology Management, Quaid-e-Azam Campus, Lahore-54590
Phone No. +92-42-9230085-84, Fax No. +92-42-9231159, URL: http//www.pu.eu.pk/qec, Email:
info@qec.pu.edu.pk
xvi.
Institute of Business Administration
xvii.
Institute of Business & Information Technology
The meeting started with the recitation of Holy Quran.
The agenda of meeting was the group discussion on implementing self assessment
manual (SAM) activities at university of the Punjab, Lahore.
Prof. Dr. Aamir Ijaz, Director QEC briefed the program team members of Faculties of
Engineering & Technology, Economics and Management Sciences about the activities of
Quality Enhancement Cell at University of the Punjab regarding efforts towards
implementation of self assessment manual (SAM); while explaining the aims of SAM, he
said that in recent years it has become an obligation for institutions of higher education to
demonstrate the effectiveness of their academic programs in providing high quality
education that positively impact students. Furthermore, most accrediting bodies and others
concerned with quality assurance are requesting that institutions to assess students
learning outcomes as a means of improving academic programs. This has led the Higher
Education Commission (HEC) to develop methods for assessing quality of academic
program. He further said that assessment is a systematic process of gathering, reviewing
and using important quantitative and qualitative data and information from multiple and
diverse sources about educational programs for the purpose of improving student learning
and evaluating whether academic and learning standards are being met. The process
culminates when assessment results are used to improve student learning. The elements
of successful assessment program include the following:1.
Purpose identification
2.
Outcomes identification
3.
Measurements and evaluation design
4.
Data collection
5.
Analysis and evaluation
6.
Decision-making regarding actions to be taken
Talking about the importance of SAM he mentioned that only a small number of institutions
in the United States were engaged in assessment of educational programs fifteen years
ago but now nearly every institution carries out assessment-related projects.
The purpose of this document (SAM) is to outline the process of conducting selfassessment (SA) of academic programs. It is HEC that requires universities to conduct
Institute of Quality & Technology Management, Quaid-e-Azam Campus, Lahore-54590
Phone No. +92-42-9230085-84, Fax No. +92-42-9231159, URL: http//www.pu.eu.pk/qec, Email:
info@qec.pu.edu.pk
periodic self-assessment for its academic programs in order to improve them and ensure
high academic standards. Self-assessment is an important tool for academic quality
assurance and provides feedback for faculty and administration to initiate action plans for
improvement. He further said that the purpose of today’s meeting is to get update about
the SAM. The aim of SAM is to enhance the educational level to International level and
further

To bring the courses and syllabi of different disciplines and areas to same level all
over the country & to assess the educational level imparted to the students.

To get feed back from different employers through survey form given in SAM.

The main purpose of the meeting is to discuss any problems which program team
members are facing during completing SAM and to assure them that QEC is there
to sort any problems faced by them.

Improving quality of education is an on going process which starts from the top level
right from the Chancellor to non-academic staff; until unless, we are all committed
for continuous improvement, it can’t be achieved.

Through SAM, QEC will highlight the weaknesses / requirements of the
departments and after proper auditing of SAM, those weaknesses/requirements
would be communicated to Vice Chancellor as well as to Higher Education
Commission (HEC). He further added that SAM is required to be updated every
2-year. Among 2-faculties which were invited for this group discussion today, only 4
departments have submitted SAM reports & still there are some shortcomings and
even some of standards missing in these received SAM reports.

Minutes of the today’s meeting will be communicated to respective departments
through Deans and Directors as well as to Vice Chancellor and Registrar. He then
invited the participants to talk about their difficulties in completing SAM.
Dr. Zafar Rashid (Program Manager B.Sc. I.E.M & Professor, IQTM) made the following
valuable suggestions towards quality enhancement of academic programmes:i)
Preparation of a comprehensive course outline / course objectives and its
provision to the students.
ii)
Emphasis on the analytical contents of the course and its applied nature.
iii)
Holding of seminars from professional resource persons in the respective
fields for promotion of university-industry interaction.
Institute of Quality & Technology Management, Quaid-e-Azam Campus, Lahore-54590
Phone No. +92-42-9230085-84, Fax No. +92-42-9231159, URL: http//www.pu.eu.pk/qec, Email:
info@qec.pu.edu.pk
iv)
Introduce
course
modules
on
research
methodology
to
encourage
independent research.
Dr. Hafiz Khalid Ahmad (Department of Economics) stated that how quantity reduces the
quality of education. He iterated that quality of education reduces because of the number
of students we admit is too high. If quality of education needs to be increased then the
intake of students should be less. Quality of education can not be imparted to students if
class strength is too high, as is the case now prevailing in different departments so to
overcome this problem one should follow the following steps:
To decrease the teaching load on teachers.

To increase the number of teachers

To increase student / teacher ratio.

Their financial supports

Infrastructures
He also suggested that senior faculty members should be given the tasks of SAM and
further that program team members should be given incentive in some form of
remuneration.
Col ® Fazal ur Rehman highlighted that SAM and its implementation should not be
considered something separate from the routine processes of educational system being
followed in the University. As a matter of fact SAM supports the ongoing processes in each
department to be implemented as per documented procedures for the following important
areas of the educational system:i)
Design and development of respective educational programme and their curriculum
ii)
Admission Processes and related formalities
iii)
Execution of academic programs
iv) Attendance and related activities
v)
Examination and assessments of students
vi) Publication of results and issue of degrees / certificates
vii) Evaluation and assessment of each programs
viii) Measures for improvement for the next academic cycle.
On the request of program team members present in the meeting, Director, asked Admin
Officer of QEC to email audited SAM report of Institute of Quality and Technology
Management to all the departments for their reference. He further told the house that Mr.
Institute of Quality & Technology Management, Quaid-e-Azam Campus, Lahore-54590
Phone No. +92-42-9230085-84, Fax No. +92-42-9231159, URL: http//www.pu.eu.pk/qec, Email:
info@qec.pu.edu.pk
Muhammad Abdullah (Admin Officer, QEC) will visit the PT’s of each department in future
and try to solve their queries on spot with the help of Director, QEC.
The meeting concluded by a unanimous agreement that there should be a training /
awareness call for Dean and Director by Vice Chancellor and QEC to improve quality of
education; so they should start taking more interest in SAM activity. The meeting ended
with the vote of thanks from the Director, QEC.
Prepared by:
Mr. Muhammad Abdullah
(Admin Officer)
Approved by:
(Prof. Dr. Aamir Ijaz)
Director, QEC
Cc:
 Vice Chancellor
 Registrar
Institute of Quality & Technology Management, Quaid-e-Azam Campus, Lahore-54590
Phone No. +92-42-9230085-84, Fax No. +92-42-9231159, URL: http//www.pu.eu.pk/qec, Email:
info@qec.pu.edu.pk
Quality Enhancement Cell, Institute of Quality & Technology Management, University of the Punjab, Quaid-e-Azam Campus, Lahore-54590
Ph. No. +92-42-9230344, 5867114, Fax No. +92-42-9231159.
URL: http//www.pu.eu.pk/qec, Email: info@qec.pu.edu.pk.