Inception Workshop on Quality Assurance in Higher Education by IQAC at UAP

 

In its quest of excellence in the tertiary education of Bangladesh, the University Grants Commission (UGC), in conjunction with World Bank, took up the HEQEP (Higher Education Quality Enhancement Project) to implement in various universities of Bangladesh – both public and private. University of Asia Pacific (UAP), a leading private university, is one of the contract signatories in the round two of this HEQEP initiative. With a view to further institutionalizing quality culture, since last year, it has started its institutional quality assurance cell (IQAC) with the support from UGC and the World Bank. In this connection, an inception workshop on quality assurance on higher education was held on June 14, 2016. Faculty members of different departments attended the workshop.

Mr. Qayum Reza Chowdhury, Chairman, Board of Trustees, UAP graced the occasion as the chief guest, while Prof. Dr. Mesbahuddin Ahmed, Head, Quality Assurance Unit (QAU), UGC attended the program as the special guest. Prof. Dr. Jamilur Reza Choudhury, Vice-Chancellor, UAP was the program chair in the workshop.

The workshop was divided into two sessions: in the inaugural session, Dr. Abu Naser Chowdhury, Additional Director, IQAC, delivered his welcome address. This was followed by the speech of Mr. Qayum Reza Chowdhury, who spoke on the role of quality assurance and compliance in the current business world, and praised UGC and World Bank for having taken up such a project in the higher education. Prof. Mesbahuddin Ahmed, in his speech, talked about the importance of holding of the inception workshop, and touched on the ongoing efforts in improving the quality in higher education on the part of UGC. Prof. Jamilur Reza Choudhury, in his speech, talked about the formation of the accreditation council in previous times, thanked this HEQEP initiative, and wished that future funding would be made possible now that UAP shifted to the city campus.

The second part of the workshop was the technical session, which was conducted by Dr. Mahbubul Haque, Director, IQAC, UAP. Four presentations were made during this session. First, Prof. Dr. M. R. Kabir made a presentation on the emerging trends in the teaching learning process, and on how UAP strived to ensure quality in various programs. The three other presentations were made by the quality experts of UGC – Prof. Dr. M. Abul Kahsem and Prof. Dr. Sanjoy Kumar Adhikary, apart from Prof. Mesbahuddin Ahmed. They highlighted the importance of quality assurance system, role of IQAC in establishing quality culture, self-assessment committee guidelines, internal and external peer review, etc. Finally, Dr. Haque delivered his concluding remarks thanking all the participants to take their time to attend the workshop and make it a success.