Information & Activities Report ( January – March 2008)

ByMuhammad Taimur Khan

Director, QECe-mail: qec@upesh.edu.pk

Quality Enhancement CellUniversity of Peshawar

QEC Secretariat:Separate Office in the Main Administration Block

Personnel:Director (Full time)

Data Analyst- vacant since November, 2007. Post has been advertised, applications received, selection awaited.

KPO cum Personal Assistant- in place

Naib Qasid- in place

Equipment:Existing: Computers- 02 by HEC, 01 by UoP; Laptop-01(UoP);

Fax-01; Scanner-01; Telephone-01; HP-Laser Printer

Required: Photocopier

Outcome of Evaluation of Model DepartmentDepartment of Geography was selected for documentation

as a pilot project. The improvements suggested in the document still need to be made. For instance the introduction of Thesis in the Master Programme has not been initiated yet. The faculty is divided on the issue. The main argument is that it is not practical to offer thesis for large number of students.

Some efforts have been made in meeting one of the objectives i.e. establishing a Remote Sensing and GIS laboratory in the department under the guidance of Prof. Dr. M. Aslam Khan, a Foreign Faculty.

Alumni Association has not been formed yet.

Status of Self Assessment Implementation 

The Quality Enhancement Cell, circulated Teacher and Course Evaluation Survey proformae to all the Departments for self assessment for the session 2006-07.

Students from 35/41 Departments filled Teacher Evaluation Proformae, while only 11/41 Departments returned filled Course Evaluation Proformae.

Contd…The entry and analysis of the data was done by

QEC since the PTs did not cooperate in the self assessment exercise on the pretext that they are already overloaded with routine teaching and other assignments.

The Vice Chancellor also emphasized that in order to get unbiased responses of the students the exercise should be conducted and data analyzed by the QEC.

Contd…

In the absence of any software for analysis of the data, a simple statistical technique of weighted averages (in percentage) was employed to get scores for each faculty member.

The same procedure was adopted to calculate scores/grades for the courses taught during the academic session.

Contd…

An Executive Summary of the results of self assessment for the academic session 2006-07 was submitted to the Vice Chancellor on January 10, 2008.

On the directives of the Vice Chancellor the results were also communicated to the Deans for discussing them with their respective faculty members, and take appropriate corrective measures where needed.

Grading SystemThe grading system on the pattern of Semester

System was used to assign scores to the faculty as well as courses:

Scores obtained Letter Grade Remarks

80% and above A Excellent

65 – 79.9% B Good

50 – 64.9% C Satisfactory

40 – 49.9% D Poor

Below 40% F Very Poor

Contd…

Results of some selected Departments are presented in the following slides for sharing the information/procedure with colleagues:

Results of Teacher Evaluationof Centre of Biotechnology

S.No. Faculty Member % Score obtained (Rounded off)

Letter Grade Remarks

1. XXXXXXX 89 A Excellent

2. XXXXXXX 80 A -do-

3. XXXXXXX 78 B Good

4. XXXXXXX 75 B -do-

5. XXXXXXX 61 C Satisfactory

6. XXXXXXX 61 C -do-

7. XXXXXXX 51 C -do-

Results of Student Course Evaluationof Centre of Biotechnology

S.No. Course Offered Instructor Level of Satisfaction

(% )

Letter Grade Remarks

1. Immunology XXXXXXXX 82 A Excellent

2. Medical Bio-technology XXXXXXXX 79 B Good

3. Genetic Engineering XXXXXXXX 78 B -do-

4. Agricultural Biotechnology

XXXXXXXX 77 B -do-

5. Research Methodology XXXXXXXX 74 B -do-

6. Industrial Biotechnology XXXXXXXX 71 B -do-

7. Molecular Genetics XXXXXXXX 70 B -do-

8. Microbiology XXXXXXXX 67 B -do-

9. Medicinal Biotechnology XXXXXXXX 67 B -do-

10. Bio-informatics XXXXXXXX 65 B -do-

11. Biochemical Engineering XXXXXXXX 53 C Satisfactory

Teacher vs Course Evaluation

Teacher vs Course Evaluation

Teacher Evaluation Survey

Contd…

Q.4 Communicative Ability

02468

101214

1 2Two Teachers of the same Department

No

. of

Res

po

nd

ents V.High

High

Average

Low

V.Low

Not Attempted

Contd…

Q. 8 Explanation of Concepts with Real Life Examples

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

1 2Two Teachers of the same Department

No

. of

Res

po

nd

ents V.High

High

Average

Low

V.Low

Not Attempted

Contd…

Q. 21 Ideas and Concepts were Presented Clearly

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

1 2Two Courses of the same Department

No

. o

f R

esp

on

den

ts

Strongly Agree

Agree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

Not Attempted

Plan for further use of Information

A meeting of the respective Deans is being planned to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of their respective faculties on the basis of results of the above survey in the next month.

Two of our deans are still acting Vice Chancellors, One at University of Peshawar and the other at Malakand. New deans have not been appointed as yet. This would delay many of our activities.

Lessons learnt during the implementation

Lack of interest of Programme Teams in conducting self assessment surveys and analyzing the data. The QEC has to do all that.

The Vice Chancellor is of the opinion that in order to get unbiased response from the students regarding teaching and the courses the Director QEC should conduct the surveys himself and also analyze the data. This seems against the spirit of self assessment, though, but the Vice Chancellor has a valid point.

Contd…The Data Analyst/Web Manager has resigned

about 4 months ago, no one has been appointed yet. The vacant post has , however, been advertised and a new Data Analyst will be appointed by the end of March, 2008.

The KPO and the Naib Qasid are entering the data and analyzing it according to the simple statistical technique of weighted averages.

Sharing the Self Assessment Knowledge

The Director, QEC participated in a workshop arranged by Khyber Medical University in February 2008 at Pearl Continental Hotel, Peshawar as resource person on the self assessment procedures of HEC

Action Plan for Self Assessment Exercises for Academic Session 2007-08

Evaluation of One Model Department: Evaluation of one selected department has already been submitted to HEC,

documentation of other departments including Biotechnology, Environmental Science, Economics is in process.

Self Assessment Surveys in other Departments:4-Year Bachelor Programmes: Survey of Programme Evaluation, Teacher Evaluation and Course

Evaluation of 4 departments including Biotechnology, Economics, Environmental Sciences, Management Studies, Education is in progress.

Master Programmes: The assessment survey of Master Programmes will be conducted in the

third week of April, 2008.

Plagiarism Detection Software

The HEC has provided plagiarism detection software “ iThenticate ” to University of Peshawar to check theses, journal articles for plagiarism through this software. The use of the software has been approved by the ASRB of which the Director QEC is also a member.

Contd…The Director QEC, after checking the theses

through the software issues a certificate on the basis of similarity index and acknowledgement of original sources within the text whether the theses under scrutiny are plagiarized or otherwise.

Besides, the Editors of journals of University of Peshawar have been requested to get the articles checked through the Plagiarism Detection Software prior to publication. Articles submitted for publication in one journal did have serious problems.

Continued…

A Policy on Plagiarism by the University is being made in the light of the HEC Policy on Plagiarism.

A Committee consisting of one

Dean, Director QEC, Director Admissions and Deputy Registrar has been constituted to make necessary statutes for Plagiarism Policy.

Hopefully, the statutes shall be submitted to the ASRB very soon and finally put before the Syndicate for approval.

Thank You