Quality Enhancement Cells (QECs), established in HEC recognized universities (both private and public sector) across the Country by Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC), are envisioned to be strategic organs facilitating Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to fulfill their mission and subsequent goals. QECs have a prime responsibility of institutionalization of quality in HEIs as well as in their constituent units and affiliated colleges. The Cells are vested with responsibility to develop a strong institutional quality culture and strengthen systems that HEIs use to guarantee the quality of student learning experience and other scholarly activities, thereby promoting public confidence.

One of the prime responsibilities of the Cells is implementing the internal quality assurance processes both at institutional and program levels covering all areas of university’s operations with active involvement of management, faculty, staff, and students. They also have a key responsibility of facilitating institutions to prepare for and go through external quality assurance and coordinate with external quality assurance bodies including HEC, QAA & accreditation councils. QECs have a duty to support universities to strengthen internal quality assurance processes for having a successful external review.

The Quality Enhancement Cell (QEC) is headed by Dr. Farhan Mahmood reporting directly to the Respected Vice Chancellor. In a newly constructed University building, the QEC has been allocated a separate office that is completely furnished and equipped.

Since its inception, the QEC has been fully functioning and carrying out the following activities as instructed by the HEC QAA, with the goal of raising the quality of higher education in Pakistan, matchable with best international standards:

About QEC

University of Engineering and Technology (UET), Lahore established Quality Enhancement Cell (QEC) in September 2005 with the aim to develop and enhance the quality of higher education in the university. The QEC at UET, Lahore was one of the ten QECs established in the first phase by the QAA-HEC in the public sector universities. A senior faculty member is appointed as a Director of QEC directly reporting to the Vice-Chancellor. The Director QEC also acts as a resource person with the outside bodies. The recruitment of other staff had been conducted in February 2006. The QEC at UET, Lahore has adopted quality standardsas per the guidelines of QAA, HEC. The academic programs of UET, Lahore are periodically evaluated through internal and external periodic assessments to ensure compliance with the international standards. The feedback is shared with the faculty and administration to initiate the corrective action plan. As an addition to the existing QEC set-ups, dedicated QECAC units are fully integrated in the structure of QECs to streamline and carry out activities aimed at improving the quality of education delivered by affiliated colleges.

Responsibilities of QEC

The Quality Enhancement Cell at UET, Lahore is responsible for:

  • Providing leadership to enhance the effectiveness of institution in realizing its mission & goals and compliance with external quality assurance standards.
  • Managing and Implementing QA Framework of QAA-HEC for higher education in Pakistan at HEI in letter and spirit affirming that high academic standards are secured.
  • Developing and university-wide implementing the ‘Quality Framework’ of university that is compatible with HE arrangements in place nationally and consisting of policies, processes and guidance enabling universities to contextualize their approach to the quality assurance framework and manage the outcomes of these processes.
  • Evaluating institutional effectiveness against the standards rather than compliance with the standards employing both content-oriented ‘peer review’ system and process-based audit and reviewing academic standards, quality of provision and the system HEIs use to guarantee that quality; thus, assuring that the standard of academic awards is upheld and enhanced.
  • Facilitating external review of HEI and academic programs.
  • Enabling the accreditation process and ensuring accreditation of academic programs from respective accreditation councils as per given plans.
  • Performing audit of the institution and departments to determine whether an institution of higher education conforms to standards and the quality parameters prescribed by the QAA-HEC.
  • Performing audit of academic programs to determine whether the programs of study set and maintain the standards at the desired level.
  • Developing program to audit curriculum, in collaboration with Director Studies, to check the relevance and rigor of course/program offerings with sufficient attention to the contents and achieved learning outcomes of the academic programs.
  • Ensuring that academic programs are developed considering vision, mission & goals of HEI in alignment with National Qualification Framework of Pakistan and they comply with HEC policies & global standards of teaching to enable graduates to have appropriate global employment opportunities or become successful entrepreneurs.
  • Development of program specifications specifying specifics of knowledge, skills, and behavioral competencies a student will have developed / be able to demonstrate on successful completion of the degree programs.
  • Developing repository of university data that can be used for delivery of information to various stakeholders including HEC, QAA and accreditation councils.
  • Capacity development of faculty and staff (in HEIs as well as in their constituent units and affiliated colleges) on quality assurance.
  • Arranging conference/seminars/summits on topics relating to quality assurance.
  • Developing and implementing procedures ensuring involvement of faculty, staff and students in quality assurance activities and its outcomes implanting QA into the academic component of university.
  • Development and implementation of academic honor code.
  • Having oversight of university’s approach to assuring the integrity in internal functioning and transparency in external dealings.
  • Having an operations oversight of university activities and academic policies for working towards achieving institutional mission & goals and whistle blowing for senior management to take timely preventive and / or corrective measures.
  • Dissemination of QA knowledge, information, and good practices across the institution amongst all stakeholders.
  • Staying abreast of external information related to quality assurance and initiating & coordinating apt and appropriate actions.
  • Instilling indicators of various global rankings like THE, QS, etc., into the fabric of university operations; submission of ranking data to ranking agencies.
  • Steering other QEC affairs like data submission to HEC, PHEC etc., management of Turnitin accounts, Pakistan Qualification Register, NOCs from HEC, degree attestation issues, preparation of program files, student files, faculty files, etc.
  • Being a member of university statutory bodies, providing expert input and guidance on academic quality related matters.
  • Developing and maintaining QEC webpage at university website to keep public and interested parties abreast of latest information.
  • Monitoring and Evaluation of academic partnerships with other institutions to ensure effective management of standards and quality of education provision.
  • Steering and supervision of QEC sub-offices/focal persons at sub-campuses, affiliated colleges, etc.
  • Ensure the active participation of representatives of sub-campuses, affiliated colleges, etc., in meetings of university’s statutory bodies.
  • QECACs, a unit of QEC, is responsible to:
    1. Introduce, implement & strengthen quality assurance framework of QAA-HEC in affiliated colleges (ACs); setting targets for each affiliated colleges as per baselines targets provided by QAA-HEC.
    2. Develop and implement mechanisms for continuous quality improvement (CQI) of education delivered at affiliated colleges (ACs) and ratifying the performance assessment of ACs as per QAA targets and / or additional targets set by QECACs; periodic progress review meetings to assess the performances.
  • Improve / Strengthen the mechanisms of assessments (examinations/ assignments / quizzes / projects, etc.)
  1. Review the academic affiliations of colleges and report the compliance status of ACs against university affiliation criteria/guidelines on a cyclical basis.
  2. Conduct of feedback surveys, analysis of feedback surveys and closing loop activities.
  3. Facilitate the implementation of HEC undergraduate education policies at ACs.
  • Coordinate with colleges and accreditation councils for timely accreditation of programs from respective councils.
  • Develop capacity of faculty, staff, and focal persons at each AC.
  1. Through the Director QEC, coordinate and provide information to regulatory bodies like HEC, etc.
  2. Steer other QECACs affairs like sharing important updates with colleges, data submission, management of Turnitin accounts, implementation of HEC policies like plagiarism policy etc., Pakistan Qualification Register, degree attestation issues, preparation of program files, student files, faculty files, etc.
  3. Any other task assigned by the competent authorities of university.

 

QEC will be responsible for developing, implementing, and improving procedures for the following (including but not limited to):

  • Institutional Review and Self-assessment
  • Postgraduate Program Review (PGPR) and Self-assessment
  • Undergraduate Program Review (UGPR) and Self-assessment
  • QA of Degree Programs
  • Review of Sub-campuses and Affiliated Colleges
  • Approval of New Programs; Improvement of Existing Programs
  • Annual Monitoring and Evaluation
  • Data Source for Delivery of Accurate Information to all Stakeholders
  • Student Feedback, Faculty Feedback, Alumni, Employer Feedback, etc.
  • Faculty, Staff, Student and Employer Participation in Relevant Quality Assurance Activities
  • Proper Interaction Among Courses, Research and Employers etc.

Contact Us

Email: [email protected]
Phone:  042-99029440
Address: Quality Enhancement Cell, Main Auditorium Building, University of Engineering & Technology, Lahore, Pakistan.