IQAC may be constituted in every institution under the Chairmanship of the Head of the institution with heads of important academic and administrative units and a few teachers and a few distinguished educationists and representatives of local management and stakeholders. The composition of the IQAC may be as follows:

1. Chairperson: Head of the Institution
2. A few senior administrative officers
3. Three to eight teachers
4. One member from the Management
5. One/two nominees from local society, Students and Alumni
6. One/two nominees from Employers /Industrialists/stakeholders
7. One of the senior teachers as the coordinator/Director of the IQAC

The composition of the IQAC will depend on the size and complexity of the institution. It helps the institutions in planning and monitoring. IQAC also gives stakeholders or beneficiaries a cross-sectional participation in the institution’s quality enhancement activities. The guidelines given here are only indicative and will help the institutions for quality sustenance activities. The membership of such nominated members shall be for a period of two years. The IQAC should meet at least once in every quarter. The quorum for the meeting shall be two-third of the total number of members. The agenda, minutes and Action Taken Reports are to be documented with official signatures and maintained electronically in a retrievable format. It is necessary for the members of the IQAC to shoulder the responsibilities of generating and promoting awareness in the institution and to devote time for working out the procedural details. While selecting these members several precautions need to be taken. A few of them are listed below: It is advisable to choose persons from various backgrounds who have earned respect for integrity and excellence in their teaching and research. Moreover, they should be aware of the ground realities of the institutional environment. They should be known for their commitment to improving the quality of teaching and learning. It would be appropriate to choose as senior administrators, persons in charge of institutional services such as the library, computer center, estate, student welfare, administration, academic tasks, examination and planning, and development. The management representative should be a person who is aware of the institution’s objectives, limitations, and strengths and is committed to its improvement. The local society representatives should be of high social standing and should have made significant contributions to society and in particular to education.

The Role of Coordinator

The role of the coordinator of the IQAC is crucial in ensuring the effective functioning of all the members. The coordinator of the IQAC may be a senior person with expertise in quality aspects. She/he may be a full-time functionary or, to start with, she/he may be a senior academic /administrator entrusted with the IQAC as an additional responsibility. Secretarial assistance may be facilitated by the administration. It is preferable that the coordinator may have sound knowledge about the computer, its various functions, and usage for effective communication.

Operational Features of the IQAC

Quality assurance is a by-product of ongoing efforts to define the objectives of an institution, to have a work plan to achieve them and to specify the checks and balances to evaluate the degree to which each of the tasks is fulfilled. Hence devotion and commitment to improvement rather than mere institutional control is the basis for devising procedures and instruments for assuring quality. The right balance between the health and growth of an institution needs to be struck. The IQAC has to ensure that whatever is done in the institution for “education” is done efficiently and effectively with high standards. In order to do this, the IQAC will have to first establish procedures and modalities to collect data and information on various aspects of institutional functioning. The coordinator of the IQAC and the secretary will have a major role in implementing these functions. The IQAC may derive major support from the already existing units and mechanisms that contribute to the functions listed above. The operational features and functions discussed so far are broad-based to facilitate institutions towards academic excellence and institutions may adapt them to their specific needs.

Monitoring Mechanism

The institutions need to submit yearly the Annual Quality Assurance Report (AQAR) to NAAC. A functional Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) and timely submission of Annual Quality Assurance Reports (AQARs) are the Minimum Institutional Requirements (MIR) to volunteer for second, third or subsequent cycle’s accreditation. During the institutional visit, the NAAC peer teams will interact with the IQACs to know the progress, functioning as well as quality sustenance initiatives undertaken by them. The Annual Quality Assurance Reports (AQAR) may be part of the Annual Report. The AQAR shall be approved by the statutory bodies of the HEIs (such as Syndicate, Governing Council/Board) for the follow-up action for necessary quality enhancement measures.