Envisaged by Swami Agamananda, a social reformer and a foresighted scholar of Sri Ramakrishna Advaita Ashram, Sree Sankara College, Kalady was established with a view to perpetuate the memory and doctrines of the great saint and philosopher, Adi Sankaracharya and to nurture his birth place as a cultural citadel. Since then, the college has been committed to impart an overall quality education to generate fruitful and responsible citizens. The College places Quality in Education as well as life skills as the utmost priority among its policies. The Quality Policy of the institution is formulated based on its Vision and Mission.
The Vision and Mission of the college are stated as below. The statements are displayed at all buildings in the campus and on the website.
VISION
To achieve Excellence in Higher Education, with a stress on Creativity, Competence, Skill Development, Employability and Personal values, Compassion and Social Commitment.
MISSION
Professional and Skill Development
· Encouraging Competence, Creativity and Critical Thinking
· Promoting multi-disciplinary Learning and Research
· Promoting enrolment in Skill based Programmes based on current employability demands
· Providing Internships and On Job trainings with reputed industries
Employability enhancement
· Keeping up with changing employability demands to equip students to meet new challenges in their potential work field
· Tie-Ups with industries, companies and institutions to keep abreast with the job demands which changes from time to time
· Providing continuous training programmes on soft skills, interpersonal skills, communication skills and professional ethics
Personal Integration
· Moulding good citizens with ingenuity, adaptability, social commitment, and ethical values, who can provide innovative leadership in all walks of life.
· Inculcating mutual respect among individuals to foster Humanity, Social responsibility, Inclusivity and Compassion
· Instil sense of Nationality to infuse motivation towards Nation Building and respectful co-existence with co-citizens beyond caste, creed, religion and race.
The major thrust points in the quality policies are stated below:
Quality Assurance Measures by IQAC
The college has a fully functional and dedicated team as the Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) whose primary aim is monitoring and ensuring quality norms in curricular and non-curricular activities of the college. IQAC play a catalytic role in the internalisation of the quality policy through recommendations of quality initiatives, proposals of corrective measures if needed, conduct of regular audits by authorised bodies for a quantitative analysis of the functioning of college and its quality initiatives. The IQAC composition is based on UGC regulations and consists of:
o A Chairperson
o A Coordinator
o Seven Teachers
o The Librarian
o One member from the Management
o Two senior administrative officers
o Nominee from the Local Society
o One boy Student and One Girl student
o Alumni Representative
o Industry Nominee
o Two External Experts
The Role of IQAC in Quality Assurance
IQAC will formulate mechanisms and procedures for ensuring
· Timely, efficient, effective and professional performance of academic, administrative and financial tasks
· The quality and upgradation of academic and research programmes at par with changing scenarios
· Integration and adaptation of innovative methods of teaching and learning
· Fool proof and effective evaluation of students
· Augmentation and maintenance of Infrastructure and learning resources
· Quality enhancement of Teachers
· Networking with National as well as International institutions
Some specific measures taken by IQAC in ensuring quality includes:
Equipping Students for University Education
o Induction programme - Deeksha
IQAC arranges Induction programmes for the freshers to familiarise them with the norms and regulations of University, College and society as a whole. Every year, an eminent scholar or a recognised personality is invited to interact and motivate the students. The Principal will also address the students to make them aware of the student affairs, examination system, co-curricular activities, etc.
o Orientation for Freshers - Disha
Every year, the freshers are given an orientation class by the parent department to inform them about the prospects of the programme to which they are admitted and also the related job and higher studies prospects. A library orientation is also provided by the Librarian
· Appointment of Staff
IQAC takes a lead role in ensuring the quality of new appointments by verifying the credentials
· Promotion of Staff
IQAC is instrumental in implementing the formalities and assisting the teachers to abide by the university regulations for their promotions, by verifying their credentials and credits.
· Teachers’ Training
IQAC regularly arranges training programmes, workshops and FDPs for teaching staff as well as non-teaching staff to equip them for the professional demands from time to time. IQAC also encourages teachers to attend professional development programmes organised by nationally and internationally reputed institutions and organisations.
· Training Programmes for Employability Enhancement
Skill development Programmes, Internships and On the Job Trainings are to be a part of the curriculum. IQAC ensures that MoUs and Linkages are established with reputed institutions and industries for training the students in the state of the art and trending technologies in their discipline.
· Feedback Analysis
Regular feedback is collected from Stake holders, analysed and presented before concerned authorities for taking action.
· Fostering of Research Culture
IQAC monitors the activities of Research Council in fostering the research culture in the college. IQAC encourages PG departments to get themselves as approved research centres. Research Council is entrusted with promoting research outputs from staff and students and also to track and document publications and patents coming out of the institute.
· National and International Exposure to students and Teachers
IQAC provides fund to all departments for organising academic events such as national and international workshops and conferences, so that the students and teachers get an opportunity to update themselves with the worldwide research and developments in their discipline.
· Documentation – Digital Diary
IQAC encourages staff to document each and every professional activity in the Digital Diary provided in the college website,
· Academic and Administrative Audits
IQAC ensures timely submission of Annual Quality Assurance Reports (AQAR) to NAAC. IQAC prepares the college for NAAC accreditation every five years by consolidating the documents. In addition to NAAC, the college participates in NIRF ranking and also conducts yearly internal Academic and Administrative Audit (AAA) and also by approved authorities. Energy, Environmental and Green audits are also carried out every year by approved agencies.
Quality in Admission Procedures
The admission procedures are as per the guidelines of the affiliating University. The admission cell meticulously ensures that the academic and social norms are well justified while admitting students to each and every programmes
Quality in Teaching
IQAC encourages teachers to get themselves adapted to new and innovative teaching methods using possibilities of ICT. IQAC also arranges training classes towards this end and also deputes teachers to attend Training programmes and workshops in this regard.
Quality in Student Assessments
Internal assessments are highly fool-proof and an internal exam committee is fully operational to ensure the timely conduct and evaluation of the exams as well as publication of results. A students’ Grievance cell is also functional which can redress grievances regarding exams and assessments.
Quality in Culture and Co-Curricular Activities – Nurturing Talents
The College Cultural committee organises inter departmental cultural competitions to identify talents and prepares them for university level Youth festivals.
Library and Learning resources
The College Library is completely digitalised and Divyangjan friendly and holds adequate number of learning resources in print as well as digital form. Every year, books are added to the collection based on changing syllabus and changing reading habits.
Recognition of Merit
Merit days are organised every year to recognise students who have excelled in academics as well as co-curricular activities.
Fostering Social Commitment and National Integration
Through socially relevant activities including outreach programmes, mainly under the forum of NSS, NCC and other registered clubs, and also by various departments, a sense of social responsibility and National Integration is inculcated in students. All the National days of importance are commemorated in the campus.
Women Empowerment
The Women Cell Sakhi as well as the Gender sensitivity cell ensures quality enhancement in the life of Girls students through various activities including health and hygiene classes, life skill trainings, counselling sessions, cultural activities, etc.
Through the concerted efforts of Management, Principal, College Council and IQAC, the quality measures are maintained and monitored regularly for the curricular as well as co-curricular progress and holistic development of Students as well as Staff.