Best Practices

Best Practice No: 1

1. Title of the practice:
A contemporary method-based approach towards quality-oriented education.
2. Objectives of the practice:
The true nature of education is not only to obtain theoretical and practical knowledge of a defined course curriculum but also to gather and harvest knowledge from different sources both theoretically and practically, to make the concept clear about the subject and also helps the student to gain insight in recent trends and advances in the concerned field.

Therefore, the college endeavors to emphasize conducting multiple workshops, CMEs, hands-on-trainings, seminars, symposiums, guest lectures, etc in collaboration with reputed organizations or trainers in the field of subject for up-gradation of teaching and learning.

3. The context:
Because of providing the extra edge in the knowledge and skill development of our students, the college has taken several innovative initiatives other than the regular teaching and learning process as per the curriculum. The basic ideology is to provide students with contemporary knowledge on current developments in various fields of science with better practical utility, which students may also find interesting. They can practically see and try themselves the applicability of the knowledge in their professional life. Some of these activities in the college are described below.

4. The practice:
Many of the steps taken to create a positive impact on the teaching and learning process in the Institute have already been highlighted earlier in the present report. Nevertheless, an in-depth review of these practices is provided here.

To impart an effective teaching-learning process and up-gradation of subject knowledge of students and faculty members, the college organizes various workshops, CME, hands-on-training, seminars, symposiums, and one-day colloquium, etc.

It is noteworthy to mention that in the last five years (2014-19) college has organized 70 such events. Of these 15 were CME Workshops, 06 H-o-T, 31 symposiums, and seminars including IPR Workshops. While IQAC conducted 01 National Seminars sponsored by NAAC and 05 NEAP workshops in collaboration with Punjab State Council for Science & Technology, Chandigarh. Training and Placement Cell conducted 05 Workshops and 17 orientation programs. EDP Cell of the College conducted another 05 workshops. Local chapter NPTEL Local chapter conducted 01 FDP program.

These workshops etc were conducted in collaboration with National Research and Development Institutes like NAAC, Wildlife Institute of India, Zoological Survey of India, Forest Research Institute, State Biotechnology Department, UCOST, Punjab State Council for Science & Technology, Delhi University, NDRF, Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, GOI, EDI and NIESBUD. Simultaneously many of these were funded by DST, DBT, DRDO, UCOST, SBD, and NAAC.

The said practice is unique as it gives our students exposure to the State of the Art technology and theoretical advances made in various related fields since the resource persons are always chosen among the eminent scientists and academicians.

We strongly believe that this exposure helps them tremendously in achieving their goal.
As such we did not feel any constraints other than financial support, particularly from UGC due to our temporary 2f status.

5. Evidence of success:
Success has been achieved by the college for students and faculty in terms of their academic knowledge, skill enhancement and awareness about crucial issues both academically, career vise, and on social issues by undertaking the above activities. The outcome of some of the successful events that were conducted in the last five years are listed below:
1. Quality enhancement in the teaching and learning process.
3. Enhancement of knowledge on Food processing
4. Practical exposure in DNA fingerprinting.
5. IPR regime
6. Application of biotechnology in Conservation Biology, plant tissue culture, and ELISA.
7. Application of HPLC techniques in Industry.
8. Continuous medical education in Physiotherapy and medical lab technology.
9. Industry-Academia interaction to bridge the gap.
10. FDP on ICT-based teaching and learning.
11. Entrepreneurship Development workshops on a specific theme to inculcate Entrepreneurship as a habit.
12. More than 75 guest lectures by distinguished resource persons were held during the last five years.

It is believed that in years to come these activities shall play a vital role to provide knowledge and hope to fellow students from all the disciplines to build their career and keep them ahead in the kaleidoscope of Global Knowledge.

6. Problems encountered and Resources Required:
In the implementation of the aforesaid practice, namely conducting workshops, etc the major problem college encounters is that of lack of grants from external funding agencies especially UGC. Invariably College has to generate its resources for organizing such workshops, H-o-T, etc.

Best Practice No: 2

1. Title of the practice:
Academic automation through ERP System (e-Campus)

2. Objectives:
• Integration of the academic workflow through the common system.
• Improvement in internal communications between management, faculty, students, and parents.
• Manual processes, elimination thus making a paper-free environment.
• Easy and quick access to data to save time.
• Boosts decision-making through strategic data analysis.
3. The context:
The academic management software, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is a database-driven web-based software used for collection, storing, managing, and interpreting data from many academic operations and activities. In general, an ERP software solution provides a way to efficiently manage the everyday running modules like admission, fee, department, accounts, library, examination, canteen, payroll, etc. Other than that ERP system also offers a better way of communication among students, teachers, and parents as well.
4. The practice:

Primary Modules of e-Campus ERP system:
A. Admission Module is the gateway for the system where the student first gets himself/ herself registered by filling in the requisite information in the prescribed format. Thereafter a unique college id (user name) and password are generated which is also instantly sent to the registered mobile number. This enables him/ her to log in to the ERP portal. The student can also login to the ERP portal using Dolphin mobile app developed by the college or desktop PC.
B. Fee Management:
The e-campus ERP has been integrated with the College accounts Tally package, which is a groundbreaking feature to provide an easy facility for the student to find out the status of the fee due etc.
C. Academic Management and Monitoring modules:
1. Curriculum Management:
The ERP has a dedicated academic timetable management master through which prescribed timetables are created and distributed to the course faculty.
Lecture notes are uploaded by the subject faculty which can be accessed by the students on their mobile or desktop.
2. Academic Monitoring & Attendance Management:
Progress of individual teacher is monitored for the percentage of syllabus covered daily, weekly, or monthly. The academic progress of the courses taught under a particular program is monitored. The online feedback on the teaching methodology is undertaken periodically.
Classroom Biometric attendance is linked with e-campus and is, therefore, monitored both daily and period-wise for both the teacher and students.
Based on the above two parameters and the results of sessionals bi-monthly progress report of each student is generated by ERP which can be accessed both by parents and students.
3. Library Management module: Library management module helps book searching, managing members, issuing books, and circulating books.
4. HR and Payroll module: The HR and payroll module helps to collect the employee data from the biometric system. It also manages the leave records of the employees of the College.
All important circulars and notices are uploaded to the ERP portal. The absentee statement of students is automatically generated and sent by SMS to the parents every day.
5. Evidence of success:
The irreplaceable assets of our College are faculty, students, and staff and each of the group has its distinctive interests within the same organization. For example, College for a faculty is a place to teach and conduct research; students come to learn, live, and entertain; and the non-teaching staff takes care of the administrative work to free the teachers and students for academic activities. A college ERP is an integrated system crafted to operate in real-time without any delay, and it is a common database supporting all applications. The installation of the ERP system with accurate application and data integration done by the Information Technology (IT) Department provides a consistent look and experience across modules. Thus the college ERP integrates teachers, students, and staff under the same umbrella.
6. Problems encountered and resources required:
The implementation and the college management system to become fully usable require its own time. We have to give the time required to get the ultimate benefit. All the aspects like customization, integration, data migration, and user training have to be done properly. The implementation of educational ERP sometimes demands other changes in the management of an educational institution. Hence the users like students, teachers, and staff have to devote sufficient time to get trained to use the ERP to derive expected benefit from its implementation. Again the demanded changes should always be carried after all the phases of the ERP implementation are completed to avoid the addition of inaccuracy.
Another aspect is the investment in the process of implementation, including software pricing, annual maintenance, implementation, additional customization charges, training costs, etc. The investment should cover all the aforementioned costs.