A+ by NAAC

Certificate of Accreditation

Quality Profile

Draft Peer Team Report on Institutional Re-Accreditation of
Loyola College, Chennai – 600 034, Tamil Nadu.

Section 1: Introduction

Loyola College, Chennai established in 1925 is run by Jesuit Priests belonging to the Madurai Province. The College which is affiliated to the University of Madras is a grant – in – aid institution recognised by the UGC under 2 (f) and 12 (B) of the UGC Act of 1956. It was conferred autonomous status by the UGC in the year 1978. The College has grown to become one of the premier higher education institutions in the country during the past eight decades. It was first accredited by the NAAC in 1999 and was selected by the UGC for the award of `College with Potential for Excellence’ in 2004.

The College is located in Chennai city on a campus of 96 acres of land. The College offers 107 programme options in the faculties of Arts, Social Sciences, Sciences, Commerce and Information Technology at the undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) levels, including self-supporting courses. The College has M.Phil. and Ph.D. programmes in most of the departments. There are altogether 18 departments and 09 special institutes. Vocational courses and coaching classes for various competitive examinations are also offered by some of the institutes.

The total student strength of the College in the year 2005-‘06 is 7021 including 24 foreign nationals. But there are only 475 girls students. The College has at present 116 permanent and 207 temporary teaching staff. Most of the teachers are from Tamil Nadu with only nine teachers from outside the state. There are altogether 133 non-teaching staff. The unit cost of education is Rs.14,302.68 including salary component and Rs.10,519.94 excluding salary component.

On completion of the period of five years after the first accreditation by the NAAC in the year 1999, the Loyola College volunteered to be re-assessed by the NAAC and submitted the Re-accreditation Report (RAR) in May 2006. The NAAC constituted the Peer Team to visit the College and validate the Re-accreditation Report with Prof. A. Abdul Rahiman, former Vice-Chancellor of Kannur and Calicut Universities, as Chairperson; Dr. Abraham George, Principal, Mar Thoma College, Tiruvalla, Kerala and Prof. Mamata Satapathy, Formerly Prof. & Head, Department of Physics, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar and UGC Emeritus Fellow as members. Mr. R. Palanivelu, Additional General Manager, HR & C, BHEL, Ranipet, Tamil Nadu was the observer from the Industry. Dr. K. N. Madhusudanan Pillai, Academic Consultant, NAAC coordinated the visit. The team visited the college for three days 4th – 6th September 2006.

The Peer Team carefully analysed the RAR along with the e-format submitted by the College. The Team interacted with the Principal, the Management, members of IQAC, the faculty, non-teaching staff, students, parents and alumni. It examined different documents and records made available and visited all the departments and various infrastructural facilities of the College. Based on the above exercise and keeping in mind the criteria identified by the NAAC for the process of Re-accreditation, the Peer Team is pleased to give its objective re-assessment of the college in the following paragraphs.

Section 2: Criterion-wise Analysis

Criterion I: Curricular Aspects

Loyola College was established to provide University education in a Christian atmosphere to deserving students, especially for those belonging to the Catholic Christian community. At present about 25% of the students belong to economically disadvantaged sections of the society. The primary goal of the institution is to train young men and women to become leaders in various spheres of the society. It is also aimed at fostering intellectual vigor, love and respect to others. The vision, goals and objectives of the college are made known to all the stakeholders through the academic calendar and the handbook.

Loyola College offers a wide range of courses at various levels. The programme options include 25 UG courses (13 aided and 12 self-financing); 19 PG courses (9 aided and 10 self-financing); 8 M.Phil. programmes (2 aided and 6 self-financing) and 14. Ph.D. programmes (self-financing). The efforts of the Loyola Institute of Vocational Education (LIVE) which conducts various job-oriented programmes including 6 add-on courses of the UGC; 8 certificate courses and 14 Diploma / PG Diploma courses are indeed commendable. In addition, the College acts as a Center of Distance Education Programme of the Pondicherry University on weekends.

During the last five years after the first assessment, the college has introduced a number of interdisciplinary and innovative PG courses like Medical Laboratory Technology, Biomedical Instrumentation Science, Medical Sociology, Visual Communication and Media Arts which are compatible with the set goals and objectives of the college and are relevant to national and social needs and global trends. In addition to already existing foreign language courses in French and German, new language courses like Spanish, Italian, and Japanese have been introduced to provide an edge in the global market. Care has been taken to include skill development, career training, community orientation, computer literacy, value education, etc. as part of the curriculum in the various programmes at both the UG and PG levels.

Being an autonomous institution, the college designs and develops its own syllabi as per the overall guidelines of the university through its Boards of Studies (BOS) and Academic Council (AC). The college has members from corporate houses and industries in its BOS and AC to have more industry-institution linkages. Curriculum revision is done periodically based on the feedback from outgoing students, teachers, peers, and alumni. The college constitutes a committee to examine the curricula of different leading universities in India and abroad. The Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) was introduced in 2000-‘01 at the UG and PG levels along with the restructuring of the curriculum. Subsequently in 2003-‘04 the curricula have again been revised. The course content in most of these new curricula are designed with provision of practical training, field work, computer awareness, ICT exposure, community orientation, etc.

The college has established special institutes for training and research. The Ignatian Institute of Career Development (IICD) offers coaching classes to students for competitive examination, civil service examination etc., The Academy for Cumulative Excellence (ACE) imparts training for examinations like GATE, GMAT, GRE, TOEFEL etc., The Loyola Institute of Vocational Education (LIVE) offers certificate and diploma courses in Tourism, Marketing, Airline Ticketing, Industrial Microbiology, Human Resource Management, Medical Laboratory Technology, etc.

Semester system is followed in all the UG, PG, and M.Phil. programmes. The college has MoU with London south Bank University, U.K for conducting twining programmes in M.Sc. International Business and M.Sc. Corporate Governance. Loyola College has several self-financing courses, which help in generating funds. The College permits the credit transfers, which facilitates the students migration from one institution to others. The college has well structured feedback mechanism to collect information from students, alumni, teachers, parents, and industry. Since the previous accreditation, all the undergraduate and postgraduate courses have been changed to keep pace with recent advancements in the field of study. Steps were taken to revamp the structure of the academic programmes as per the suggestions of the previous NAAC peer team.

Criterion II: Teaching, Learning And Evaluation

All the necessary regarding the College end its admission producer are available from the prospectus and from the internet homepage of the college. The process of admission is fully computerized. While the college follows the quota system stipulated by government for the fifty per cent of the seats, the remaining fifty per cent management quota seats are filled as per the norms formulated by the Admission Committee of the College. The institutions gives special consideration to students coming from economically and socially disadvantaged communities and the first generation learners. Sports person as well as physically challenged candidates are also given due consideration during admissions.

There are some restrictions on the admission of women students. They are admitted to all PG, M.Phil. and Ph.D. programmes but only to two UG courses - Visual Communication and French language. The College does not admit girl students more than 25% of seats in any particular courses. The demand ratio for most of the courses is about to 1:5.

For the newly admitted students, the College conducts two days orientation programmes to acquaint them with the college atmosphere, examination and evaluation process, extra curricular and co-curricular activities, etc. After the admissions, every students is given a test in order to group them into streams. The slow learners are given remedial and coaching classes while advanced learners are given special assignments and encouraged to learn more on their own through library and Internet. The College prepares an Academic Calendar prior to the commencement of the academic year in consultation with Principal and head of the departments. In the last academic year, the college functioned for 270 days out of which 180 days were devoted to teaching.

The college has made sustained and continuous effort to bring some innovation in teaching- learning methodology. In fact it had shifted the focus from teacher centered pedagogy to learner centered pedagogy by introducing, projects, filed trips, internship, industrial training etc. Along with the conventional lecturers, student’s participation in seminars, quiz programmes and discussion are encouraged. Further they are exposed to facilities like Overhead projector, LCD projector, audiovisual packages, Computer and Internet in teaching learning method. The establishment of digital library, Language laboratory and Preview Theater has enabled the students to keep pace with the modern technology development and to make them globally competent.

The Loyola College has 151 sanctioned teaching post out of 116 are filled. The management has appointed 207 teachers from their own resources. There are 71 lady teachers. The teachers are recruited through written test followed by interview by duly constituted selection committee.

To keep abreast of the new development in the respective area of specialization, the teachers are encouraged to participate in national and international conferences/seminars/symposia, etc. and to attend refresher/orientation courses and the other training programs organized by the college and the other universities and the intuitions of the country. The college also grants study leave to the teachers for higher studies and research under the Faculty Improvement Programme (FIP). During the year 2005-2006, Loyola teachers attended 77 refresh courses, 22 orientation programmes, and 10 of them have availed FIP for higher studies. More than 40 of them acted as resource persons in various seminars/workshops. The teachers are also sensitized to modern technology and are motivated to use it in the teaching and research methodology. The college as well as departments organized State/National level seminars/ workshops etc. from time to time. It is good to see that experts and guest lecturers are also invited from other academic institutions, industries and universities to share their experience and expertise with the teachers and the students of the college.

The mentor system are adopted by the college is indeed a healthy practice. It is nice to note that a number of teachers of this college has received awards and recognition for research, teaching, social work and extension activities from the Government and Non Government Organizations, which included Best Teacher award, Environmental award, Best Researcher award, Young Scientist award, etc.

The college has adopted a scheme for the evaluation of the teachers by the students through feedback mechanism. This carried out once in every semester by the students of UG, PG, Certificate and Diploma courses whose attendance is more than 80%. A database of such feedback is created and analysed and a consolidated report is generated. Depending on the outcome, the principal takes appropriate action on it. The feedback of the students of the curriculum, courses content and other aspects of teaching-learning system are obtained and suitable action taken. It is observe that this has helped in maintaining the quality of the academic programmes. The college has set up IQAC, which periodically meets to review the academic programmes and quality of teaching and research.

The College follows semester system for all UG, PG, and M. Phil courses. Choice based credit system is followed for UG and PG programmes. The academic performance of the students is assessed on a continuous bases consisting of 50% of total marks and another 50% weight age is given to the end semester examinations. The type and method of examinations are conveyed to; the students through the college calendar and at personal level during orientation programmes. For the end semester examinations centralized double valuation system is followed. The College permits the revaluation of the answer scripts in the case of genuine grievance. The results are published in the newspaper and also in the college website. The whole examination process has been computerized. The College has implemented a number of examination reforms for the smooth and transparent conduct and evaluation.

Criterion III: Research, Consultancy And Extension

There has been a study improvement in the research performance of the college during the last five years. The College has taken several steps to promote a research culture among both the faculty and student. They include enhancement of the infrastructural facilities, setting up instrumentation center, augmentation of the laboratory and library facilities, subscription to more research journals, provision of free access to internet, etc. have motivated the teachers and scholars to take up research seriously. It is commendable that the college as spent more than Rs.3.7 crores of rupees on research activities during the last five years. Dissertation and project work from part of the curricula in PG courses and in some of the UG courses. This helps the students to imbibe research aptitude and broaden their perspective on their subjects.

The College has a total of 323 faculty members out of which 98 have Ph.D., 107 have M.Phil. and 59 are UGC NET/SLET qualified. It is good to note that 38 members of teaching faculty are recognized as research guides by the Madras University. In the current year 147 Research Scholars have registered for Ph.D. in different departments. Some of them receive financial assistance from research projects. The total number of Ph.Ds produced during the last five yearsis147. There is a research committee, which facilitates the research activities by providing information on external funding agencies and renders help in the preparation of research projects. At present 17 research projects with totally outlay exceeding Rs.3 crores funded by several external agencies are operating in the college. During the last five years the faculty members have published 628 papers, out of which many of them published in referred national and international journals with good impact factors. In addition, during the same period they have authored/edited 57 books are presented 552 research papers in the seminars and conferences. Some of the science faculty members are acting as referees for a few national and international journals. The College published a biannual research journal `convergence’. The faculty members have already obtained two patents and have applied for four more patents.

The College has taken a commendable step by establishing three research institutes like Entomology Research Institute (ERI) which is conducting frontline research in several emerging areas and it rated as one of the best privately funded research intuition in the country offering M.Sc. and Ph.D. programmes, The Loyola Institute of Frontier Energy (LIFE) which promote interdisciplinary research at the level of M.Phil. and Ph.D. in collaboration with the departments of Physics, Chemistry, Zoology, Plant Biology and Biotechnology. The Loyola Institute of Industrial and Social Science Research (LISOR) promotes, multi-disciplinary, meaningful social science research. The Institute of Dialogue with Culture and Religions (IDCR) is involved in research activities in the area of culture and religion. The Department of Advance Zoology and Biotechnology, Physics, Plant Biology and Biotechnology have established well equipped laboratories with sophisticated instruments procured through project and are involved in activate research. The Department of Chemistry and Advance Zoology have also received research grants from DST-FIST programmes.

The College has made some progress in the area of consultancy service since the first assessment. The Department of ERI, Commerce and Chemistry offer consultancy services to the industry, however they are not yet generated any revenue from such activities.

The College takes up extension activities and various types of outreach programmes through its departments, NCC and NSS units. The Loyola Outreach Programme for the UG students (LEARN) was introduced in the year 2001-2002 to inculcate social concern in the minds of the students especially for the downtrodden. The outreach unit of the college in collaboration with Government and NGOs conduct programmes on the community development, women empowerment, spread of literacy and promotion of peace and harmony. It is noteworthy that the curricula of several departments have extension work as a component, which makes it mandatory for the students to engage themselves seriously in such activities and thereby enrich the society and also earn credit for themselves. The College has two NCC wings (Army and Navy). Several cadets participated in Republic Day parade, held at New Delhi. Recently one of them was sent to Russia as youth ambassador under the Youth Exchange Programme. During 2005-2006, 25 cadets received B certificates and 28 cadets received C certificates.

The College has established linkages with 03 Indian and 04 Foreign Universities/Institutions through the MoU in order to expand and strengthen its academic, extension and research activities. These included Indira Gandhi Center of Atomic Research, India; Pondicherry University; Tata Relief Committee; Institute Albert le grand, France; Instituto Technologic Y De Estudios Superiors De Occident, Mexico; St. Joseph University, USA and Lille Catholic University, France.

Criterion IV: Infrastructure And Learning Resources

Loyola College has adequate infrastructure for the existing academic programmes and administrative functions. The College possesses a well maintained campus spread over 96 acres of land. There are altogether 32 buildings. The college has 91 well furnished classrooms, 4 AC and 3 Non-AC auditoriums/conference halls, an open air auditorium, 21 well-equipped laboratories, Central Library, Digital library, Students Common Rooms, Staff rooms with Computer, Inter com with Internet connectivity, etc.

The College buildings and other infrastructures are well maintained under the supervision of the Secretary of the College with the assistance of the maintenance manager. The infrastructure is optimally 7 AM to 7 PM on all working days as the college works on two shifts-aided courses in the morning and self-supporting courses in the afternoon. During the weekends, the Pondicherry University distance education programmes are carried out in the campus. In addition the college buildings are rented to outside agencies to conduct competitive examinations and hold meetings, seminars, conferences, etc.

The College has a Central library and departmental libraries. The Central library is equipped with facilities like reprography, computer, laser printers and Internet. It has separate digital library. The Central library has a collection of 1,02,109 books, and it subscribes to 138 national and 62 international journals. The online material provided through the digital library is available to the staff and students 24 hours a day all through the year. The library has a good collection of Braille books for the visually challenged students. During the last five years the college spent Rs. 61 lakhs on the purchase of books and journals.

The College has adequate computer facility and other learning resources, which are extensively used for academic and administrative purposes. It has two computer laboratories for the students, one for MCA students with 62 PCs and 3 servers and another for all the students with 145 computers and 3 servers. In the Digital library, 30 computers have been earmarked for the exclusive use of the students and 06 for the teaching staff. In addition, each department has at least one computer with Internet accesses. The examination section as 20 Computers. There is a separate computational laboratory for the M.Phil. students and research scholars. Altogether the college uses 396 computers and 12 laptops. All the computers are interconnected with access to Internet. Free E-Mail facility and Internet access are available for the faculty while the students have to pay a nominal charge for Internet access. The has employed 4 full time computer network and a network maintenance engineers for the maintenance of all the computers in the college.

The College has three boys’ hostel with 836 rooms, which can accommodate 974 students with single room accommodation for all PG students. The hostels are provided with STD/ISD telephone facility. A canteen, a ‘Coffee Pub’ and a natural drinks stall ‘Quench’ are also provided on the campus. The students’ center located in the ground floor of the main building provides recreational, intranet and locker facilities. The College has recently set up a Health Care Center. Services of duty doctor and a staff nurse are available here from 10 am to 2 pm on every working day. The college has adequate infrastructure for the sports and games. It has one multipurpose field with a 400 meter track with six lanes for athletics, 2 cricket fields, 3 volleyball courts, 3 basketball courts, one hockey field, 7 tennis courts, 2 ball badminton courts, one weight training room, air rifle shooting range, chess boards, a mini gymnasium etc. Since the first accreditation, a great deal of infrastructure development has taken place. Many new buildings like PG hostel, Physics Block, Jubilee Block, LIFE block, School of Media Studies, building for IDCR, etc have been constructed.

Criterion V: Student Support and Progression

The total number of students admitted to the general courses in the college during the academic year 2005-2006 was 7021 out of which 475 were girl students and 24 were students from abroad. Being a minority institution 50% of the seats are reserved for the minority community. It has all along been a college for male students only. However, of late, women students are also being admitted to two UG courses and all the PG, M.Phil. and other courses. The average success rates of the students in the UG and PG courses during the last year are 79% and 88% respectively. The drop out rate is below 10%.

The College does not have a formal system of monitoring students’ progression effectively. It has not kept the record of the students’ progression to higher studies, research or employment. The College may try to keep records of the students qualified for NET, SLET, GATE, GRE, TOEFEL, Civil Service examinations, etc. The college provides clear information to the students about its history, goals and objectives, admission rules, courses offered, fee structure and the facilities available through its prospectus, calendar and website.

Financial support are available to the students in the form of central and state government scholarships for SC, ST, BC, and MBC students. In addition, the management provides financial assistance to the needy and deserving students in the form of fee concessions, subsidized hostel accommodation, free noon meal scheme, etc. During the year 2005-2006, 1566 students availed financial aid from the management amounting to Rs.47,88,955 and 1090 students received Rs.3,05,320 as Govt. scholarships.

The student support services in Loyola College include Placement Cell, Grievance Redressal Cell, Hostels, Sports facility, Student Service Centre, Student Counseling Center, etc. The Placement Cell offers training to the students and arranges for campus interview for employment in the industry and other organisations. More than 300 students got placements through this cell, during 2005-‘06. The cell also arranges part time employment for the needy students under `Earn while you Learn’ scheme. Two full time trained counselors have been employed to help the students in their personal problems. The faculty members are also involved in providing academic and personal counseling through the Mentor System available in each department.

The College does not have a separate cell for prevention of sexual harassment. However, it addresses this problem by appointing a `Dean of Women Students’ from among the lady teachers who takes care of the specific needs of women students. An alumni association registered under Society Registration Act has been functioning in the college under the directorship of a faculty member. The association holds monthly executive meetings and organizes annual get together. Many of the alumni hold distinguished positions in different walks of life in the country and abroad.

Several recreational/cultural and sports facilities are available for the students. The students participate in various types of sports activities at state, university, national and international levels and have brought laurels for the College. Some incentives are given to the students who excel in sports, which may be enhanced. The Loyola Students’ Union organizes many co-curricular activities like seminars, cultural programmes etc. In collaboration with AICUF the Students’ Union organised a National Conference on Students Rights and Responsibilities in March 2006. More than 1500 delegates from 32 colleges all over India participated. The Union also donated portable music player to 60 visually challenged students of the college. They also managed to raise Rs.10 lakhs to pay the college fees of economically weaker students of the college and for organising various activities of the Students’ Union. The forum for women students under the guidance of the Dean of Women students engages in the activities like visiting the home for mentally retarded, organising tailoring and handicrafts courses, etc. They also publish a journal `Women’s Voice’. The Loyola Quiz Club and the Loyola Theatre Society of the College are quite active in their respective areas.

Criterion VI: Organisation and Management

The College has a well-defined de-centeralised organisational structure to coordinate the academic and administrative functions of the institution. The organisational structure consists of statutory bodies like the Governing Body, Academic Council, Board of Studies, Finance Committee, etc. The Principal is the academic head of the college. He provides leadership and inspiration in planning, organisation and execution of all programmes with the active support and participation of the faculty and the staff. He is the spokesperson of the college who maintains healthy contact with the stakeholders like parents, teachers, alumni and the public. He plays a pivotal role as the member secretary of the Governing Body, chairperson of the Academic Council and all the other statutory and non-statutory committees.

The Principal is assisted by six Vice-Principals, five Deans, heads of the departments and the staff. Each Vice-Principal looks after a specific area like academics, scholarships, outreach activities, finance etc. Similarly separate Deans have been assigned for Arts, Science, Foundation Courses, Women’s Affairs and Student Affairs, While the Principal looks after the entire academic aspect, the Secretary is responsible for infrastructure and finance. The duty and responsibility of each functionary is clearly defined.

The Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) of the College, which was established in 2003 with all the Heads of Departments as members, co-ordinates and monitors various quality initiatives.

The Management of the College meets the staff at least five times in an academic year. The Governing Body is convened at least twice and the Academic Council three times a year.

Being a Govt. aided College, the College gets teaching staff appointed by the government for its aided courses. However, the management has to appoint the staff for all its self-financing programmes for which it has its own appointment policy. The College advertises the posts in the newspaper, conducts written test followed by interview and then fills up the post as per the merit ranking.

The appraisal of the performance of the teaching staff is mainly done using the feedback from students. The non-teaching staff appraisal is carried out using the feedback from the outgoing students as part of the Exit Poll. Different sections of the college community like teachers, students, non-teaching staff, etc. have their own associations with elected representatives. These associations maintain a harmonious relationship with the college administration. The academic planning of various departments is carried out by the respective BOS, with the approval of Academic Council.

The non-teaching staff members are given in-house training in the use of IT in office administration and examination. The self-financing courses constitute the major source of income of the College. Over and above the different grants including the salary, the College could mobilize over Rs.3.64 crores by way of donations and other sources during 2004-‘05. Resource mobilization as well as resource allocation are carried out efficiently. The Finance Committee monitors the accounts of the College which are subjected to both internal and government audit.

The College prescribes the fees for the aided courses as per the directives of the State Government. For the self-supported courses, fees are revised every year. The examination fees for both types of courses are maintained at par with that of the University of Madras. The College has a number of welfare programmes for students and staff, which include various scholarships, group insurance, various loans and advances, medical reimbursement and the provision of residential quarters for the non-teaching staff.

Criterion VII: Healthy Practices

· The effective functioning of the IQAC and the Quality Circle have created a quality consciousness among the College community.
· Periodic review and restructuring of the curricula are done after receiving feedback from the stakeholders including industry.
· Academic and personal counseling for the students are ably carried out through the mentoring system and through the services of two full time trained counselors.
· Students are streamed into three categories soon after the admissions in order to  identify advanced learners and slow learners. Remedial coaching classes and computer  literacy programmes are provided outside the class hours free of cost for slow learners  and students coming from disadvantaged communities.
· The College has all along been striving to give ‘preferential option’ to the poor students by giving them special consideration during admissions and by providing scholarships and financial assistance.
· Under the `Earn while you Learn’ programme, several poor students are provided with part-time employment within the campus.
· Students and the faculty are encouraged to utilize ICT in academic transactions through the use of Internet, intranet, digital library, LCD, etc.
· The college as well as the different clubs and associations are bringing out newsletters like Loyola Times, Enviro News, LABS Beat, Bioflash and Women’s Voice highlighting the various activities of the institution.
· The College has developed a good feedback mechanism involving students, faculty, alumni and industry.
· Loyola College has established linkages with four overseas and three Indian
  Universities / institutions by signing MoUs.
· Effective governance is achieved through a participatory and decentralizes administrative set up.
· The College attaches supreme importance to value based education and strives to impart it effectively by introducing regular foundation courses as part of its restructured curriculum.
· The College promotes research by instituting two special awards, one for sincere and another for humanities and social science. The award is given annually to the teacher who has maximum number of research publications in an academic year.
· For the improvement of academic programmes and to acquaint the students with the application of modern technology, the College has set up Digital Library, Language Laboratory, Preview Theatre and Instrumentation Centre during the last five years.
· The College successfully organized `Expo 2005’ in order to promote industry-institution linkages.

Section III – Over All Analysis

Loyola College, Chennai is a grant –in –aid minority institution with autonomous status. To keep pace with the changing socio-economic scenario, the college has introduced a number of new inter disciplinary, multi disciplinary and innovative courses. The College has adopted several innovative pedagogical methods and profusely uses teaching aids for classroom transaction. The students have been participating in extra curricular and co-curricular activities and have brought many laurels to the college. The infrastructure facilities and support services have been augmented substantially since the first accreditation. The campus recruitment initiated recently has enabled a number of students to get placement in many multinational companies and other organisations. The College has developed a research culture and many faculty members are engaged in active research. The College was awarded “College with Potential for Excellence” status by the UGC in 2004. The institution has made serious attempts to implement almost all the suggestions made by the first Peer Team.

Effective Summary

The Peer Team would like to appreciate the following steps taken by the institution to sustain and enhance quality of education.

Commendations

· Support and patronage of the management in providing quality education in accordance with the goals and objectives of the institution and in serving the society with sensitivity and commitment.
· Positive response of the institution in periodic updating and revising the curricula after obtaining feedback from different stakeholders and in tune with the changes taking place  at local, national and international levels.
· The College has substantially contributed to the process of National Development by providing quality education in the newly emerging areas like Biotechnology, Computer Information Science and Visual Communication, thereby enabling the students to  become globally competent.
· Curriculum is restructured and Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) has been introduced.
· The College has developed adequate infrastructural facilities for the already existing and  newly introduced academic programmes during the past five years.
· The addition of the digital library, computational laboratory, preview theatre, language laboratory, centralized instrumentation facility, etc since the first accreditation are worth mentioning.
· The special attention given to differently abled students, particularly the visually challenged students by providing facilities like a good collection of Braille books in the central library. The College has also set up a resource center for differently abled   students recently.
· Commendable achievement regarding the mobilization of resources mainly generated from internal sources and in the efficient utilization of the resources for the all round  development and growth of the institution in accordance with well-defined plans and strategy.
· The College has an excellent academic ambience in the well-maintained and well-  equipped  campus, which provides an ideal setting for the overall development of the students.
· The faculty members of most of the science department have published large number of papers; authored/edited books, acted as refrees for National/ International Journals and some have received patents for their research findings.
· The College has established three research centers, which promotes inter disciplinary research in science and social sciences.
· Six UGC sponsored add-on courses were introduced.
· Foreign languages like German, Spanish, Italian, and Japanese have been introduced as second language.

Suggestions

· New PG/UG/Diploma/Certificates sources may be started keeping in view to meet the challenges of globalisation.
· The alumni may be more effectively utilized for the developmental activities of the College.
· The College should further strengthen programmes in soft skills and personality development of the students.
· The College may attract qualified teachers from different parts of the country to avoid inbreeding.
· Research collaborations at national level may be taken up and more linkages with the industry may be established.
· Video-conferencing facilities may be provided for interaction with higher centers of learning and research.
· Self-appraisal of teachers and assessment of teachers by academic peers are also to be taken up.
· Library may subscribe to online journals and students friendly open access and issue system may be adopted.
· Residential accommodation may be provided for at least a few faculty members.
· The proposal to construct new hostels for the UG students may be expedited and the proposed renovation of the existing old hostel buildings and the kitchen may be taken up  at the earliest.
· Reverse osmosis water purifier machines may be installed in all the hostels.
· Women students may be admitted to all the courses and hostel facility may be provided for them.
· A well-equipped students center for the day-scholars, an indoor stadium, swimming pool, and a separate gymnasium for girl students may be added to the existing facilities.
· A publication division may be set up to consolidate all the departmental publications.
· Parent Teacher Association may be constituted and the parents may be communicated about the student’s progress and attendance regularly.
· More departments may offer consultancy services.
· Record of student progression may be maintained systematically.
· Professional development programmes and administrative training programmes may be arranged to non-teaching staff. Technical staff may be sent for training in operation and maintenance of the sophisticated instruments.

The Peer Team wishes to record its appreciation for the goodwill and cooperation extended by the Governing Body, Principal, all members of teaching and non-teaching staff, students, parents and alumni during the visit. The team wishes the institution all success in its future endeavours.

Prof.M.Abdul Rahiman    Prof.(Mrs.) Mamata Satapathy      Dr.Abraham George
Chairman                            Member                                              Member
Peer Team

Date: 6th September 2006