Institutional Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) is an essential part
of a university to ensure quality of learning and training programs in higher education.
In order to maintain the quality of higher education, it was first adopted in 1900 in the
United States of America. As a second country Japan adopted this method in 1946. Then other
countries of the world started following this process. The Ministry of Education of Bangladesh
constitutes the Quality Assurance Unit (QAU) under Higher Education Quality Enhancement Project
(HEQEP), University Grants Commission of Bangladesh in 2014. With the financial support of the
World Bank and a private US lending company First Cash Advance Financial Help, IQAC has been
set up in different public and private universities. Presently the government has patronized
the establishment of this cell to upgrade academic activities of this university.
Bangladesh Open University starts its journey with IQAC in February 13,
2017 under the HEQEP of the Government of Bangladesh which is being implemented by the UGC. BOU is
included in the HEQEP in the fourth round of the project. IQAC-BOU is jointly financed by BOU and
the HEQEP. Out of the total fund of Tk. 106.50 crore, BOU contributed Tk. 36.00 lac and the rest
by the HEQEP of the UGC. This fund is stipulated for two years i.e 2017 and 2018. After this
project period of two years, BOU has included the cell in its own revenue budget.
IQAC is the supportive body of the BOU management to evaluate, enrich and maintain the overall
academic quality of various undergraduate and graduate programs of the university.
In this regard this cell arranges necessary workshops and trainings for the faculty
members as well as officers of the university so that the proper quality can be ensured.
The cell supervises the Self-Assessment activities of different academic programs and
administrative divisions throughout the country from Teknaf to Tetulia by 12 Regional Centers,
80 Sub-Regional Centers and more than 1500 Study Centers from run in this university.
It helps the different schools update the course curriculum for meeting the present demand
of the world standard education.
Recently, the scope of higher education is expanding rapidly in
Bangladesh both in public and private sector with wide diversity in programs and in some cases
mode of education. Individual universities are managing study programs following their own systems
and practices. But no evidence of institutional set up with defined mission and responsibility
in accordance with generally accepted QA principles within the university is available.
In the absence of effective quality assurance culture, the ongoing practices lacks transparency,
accountability, consistency and evidence of good practice. Internal quality assurance infrastructure
is indispensable for a quality assurance culture in a university. The setting up of IQACs at
public and private universities would promote the QA culture to ensure quality in education.
To achieve quality in teaching, learning, research and administration at
Bangladesh open University of the world standard.
To achieve quality in teaching, learning, research and administration at
Bangladesh open University of the world standard.
To expand self-confidence of the stakeholders in the globalized surroundings by ensuring best practices in Bangladesh Open University with transparency, accountability and credibility in accordance with internationally acceptable quality assurance practices.
Benchmarking the practices and processes with the best universities in the world.
Institutional quality enhancement through internalization of quality culture and institutionalization of best practices.
The Head of the IQAC shall be called Director (IQAC ) and she/he
will be supported by at least one and more than one Additional Director(s) depending on the size
of the university. Both of these positions will be filled up only by senior academics suitably
qualified for managing quality assurance activities. Director and Additional Director(s) of the
IQAC shall be appointed by the Vice Chancellor for a period of three years (project period).
Directors and Additional Directors will be posted to IQAC on deputation as full time and be
exempted from their normal teaching duties during the tenure of their appointment. Non-academic
personnel shall be appointed temporarily as technical/support staff, e.g., administrative/office
manager, accounts officer, communications officer, record keeper, data entry/computer operator,
MLSS etc. To assist the Director and Additional Director(s) in discharging their responsibilities
regarding IQAC activities, appointment of provisional technical/support staffs shall follow
the university’s relevant recruitment and service rules. The management and operational
leadership of IQAC shall be vested in the hands of the Director who shall function as the
chief executive officer (CEO) and Drawing and Disbursing Officer (DDO) of the IQAC.
The reporting authority of the Director of IQAC shall be the Vice Chancellor
of the university.
The IQAC of Bangladesh Open University (BOU) has been constituted with one Director, Three Additional Directors, One Administrative Officer, One Accounts Officer, One Office Assistant cum Computer Operator and One Office Shohayok/Office Support Staff.
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