SIMATS NAAC SSR
Criteria 1 Criteria 2 Criteria 3 Criteria 4 Criteria 5 Criteria 6 Criteria 7
Criterion 6: Governance, Leadership & Management
Key Indicator: 6.1: Institutional Vision and Leadership
6.1.1: The Institution has clearly stated vision and mission which are reflected in its academic and administrative governance.
SIMATS university aims to provide a quality education with sustainable knowledge and training with unsurpassed skills in all the domains that remolds the students into strong confident and successful professionals. To contemplate proper academic and administrative governance, our university follows a decentralization system which is led by the vice chancellor and registrar who supervises the deans of all institutions with the coordination of deputy and joint registrar. With an aim to strive for quality education and promote high standards of training programmes, under the guidance of the board of management, academic council and board of studies we have created a vision and mission for our university to constantly remind us of our future goals.
To promote an excellent academic outcome our board of management(BoM) has empowered our faculty with academic autonomy and freedom to develop our own curriculum. This led to introduction of various innovative and interdisciplinary courses that undergo constant changes according to the global standards. We have introduced various teaching methods like NEXT training, MILA, Competency based learning, CBD, PBL, Castle Top, POGIL, etc, which helped us achieve a CGPA score of 10 from our students.
To widen the intellectual horizon, we have various student engagements such as EBD, EBM, 800+ Advanced seminars, expert talks, internships, externships, field courses, scientific presentations. This provides a wide horizon for our students to explore knowledge and to develop distinctive skills of their liking. To provide a global exposure and perspectives towards research, we have initiated various collaborations with foreign universities.
As a university with more than 10000 students we give utmost importance to inculcate discipline and professional attitude. Students have been provided access to training like yoga, ethics, environment awareness, code of conduct and professional training.
Medical and health sciences being a major share of our university, we have extensive and significant clinical training programmes in a comprehensive manner. As a gravity to it we have given much importance for the students to achieve the clinical quota and further documentations with more than 1000 case pictures per student.
SIMATS has been the only university in India that promotes research activities for undergraduates which builds up their confidence in an oblivious manner. In the past 5 years we have achieved a score of more than 10000 publications in which 50% alone was the contribution from the undergraduates.
With periodic reviews and feedback from our stakeholders, faculty and organizing bodies, our administrative governance has given autonomy at the level of the department to generate and utilize funds by various collaborations, consultancies and continuing education programmes. As an authentication to our industrious empire, our university has been ranked No 29 in NIRF among private and public universities by the government of India in 2021. At a global level, SIMATS has secured one of the highest ranks in the country in the prestigious Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2022.
Supporting Documents:
Link for vision and mission documents approved by the Statutory Bodies
Link for report of achievements which led to Institutional excellence
6.1.2: Effective leadership is reflected in various institutional practices such as decentralization and participative management etc.
DECENTRALISATION:
Decentralisation and participative management is best exemplified in Saveetha Institute of Medical And Technical Sciences. The organisational hierarchy incorporated into the University’s framework comprises the Vice chancellor heading the university and superintending the Registrar and Deans. The Registrar of the University heads a team with the Deputy registrar and Joint registrar. The Registrar supervises the Deans of all institutions. Each institute has a Dean, upto 13 Associate/Assistant Deans, 15 program directors and 60 Department Heads. This system is unique to SIMATS. The Program director is responsible for the improvement of the program and will monitor both the undergraduate and postgraduate students. The Department has an academic and an administrative head to take care of the students, teaching and non teaching faculty.
At SIMATS we follow the management principles to improve efficiency by having 6-8 members in the core team who take care of the responsibilities and also ensure the work is equally delegated amongst the members. This practice avoids social loafing and allows maximum participation across all strata.
OUTPUT OF DECENTRALISATION & PARTICIPATIVE MANAGEMENT:
This principle has worked wonders with the Engineering discipline where 400 faculty are employed. There were 12 departments to begin with and after decentralisation they were split into 55 specialised departments with 8-10 members in a team. The specialised departments are bestowed with freedom to develop the infrastructure, facilities, curriculum changes and collaborations. This practice has enhanced the students and faculty for attending webinars, conferences, faculty development programs and e-talks in large numbers. The number of Continuing Education programmes conducted also increased three fold. The research facilities were improved by opening new labs after receiving the proposals from the respective departments. The number of publications also increased two fold.
The stakeholders of SIMATS include students, parents, employees, employers, alumni and external examiners. The Students give feedback on the theory classes, curriculum, faculty, infrastructure, research and food outlets within the campus. The feedback on academic related issues are analysed by the core committee and brainstormed ideas are formulated as proposals by the institutions which will be presented to the academic council through BoS. The faculty, students, alumni, and external examiners also give feedback to improve the quality of the research work. Our cite score with the Web of Science has increased six fold in the last three years by implementing the feedback received.
This incredible power is given to the students to give feedback and bring about changes in the quality of work that we do. Our online portal system ARMS - through which any student/employee can register a complaint with regards to the academics, infrastructure, inventories or any of the activities within the campus. The query is assigned immediately to the technical support and the issue is sorted. The issue is resolved only after the complaint is attended to completely and a feedback is taken. The quality of campus living is improved with the feedback process. Decentralisation is done by involving all strata in the feedback and implementation process and this ensures participative management.
Supporting Documents:
Key Indicator: 6.2: Strategy Development and Deployment
6.2.1: The institutional Strategic plan is effectively deployed.
To achieve the vision and mission of SIMATS and to identify and determine the future goals of the organization, we established a 4 step process to achieve a successful strategic management.
Step 1. Developing a Strategic Goal:
Over the past 5 years, SIMATS engaged in establishing robust systems to improve the academic and research performance of the constituent colleges to achieve the following strategic goal.
“To improve the standing of SIMATS among national and global universities (to be recognized for excellence in academics and research)”
Step 2. Developing the Resources and Tools:
We Developed ARMS Software for holistic e-governance of the University. This collects all academic achievements of all students and faculty, making it easier to collate our data for accreditation.
The institution formulated a CAFE (Continuous Annual Faculty Assessment) score (Expanding the traditional API)
We Established office of Dean of Accreditation with a Dean to report directly to the Vice Chancellor. This office has exclusive access to all institutional data and directly coordinates all coordinators to collect collate data beyond those covered in our ARMS.
To further harmonise the process the powers of the office of accreditation are integrated IQAC, ETU and Accreditation coordinators across the university.
3. Team Development
Decentralizations for efficient monitoring and performance at university level with the help of meetings conducted at various levels.
Infrastructure development - Purchase of sophisticated equipments
Internal department ranking
Founders days awards and incentives.
Single point of data collections and entry.
With the aid of all the resources, to become a high performing university we have initiated decentralization in our governing council. The university operates by a strong governance which includes the active participation of students, stakeholders and the governing bodies. All the university operations are headed by the vice chancellor. The deans of the entire institution are overseen by the director and registrar. Every institution has associate deans and two heads (Administrative and Academic) for every department. The teaching and non-teaching faculty are headed by their respective heads of the departments. With all the fundings and grants provided, the university has reshaped into a global level educational institute with top level rankings. To create a competitive spirit among all the departments every year at the founders day celebrations we provide rankings and awards to all the departments at university level, based on their achievements.
4. Review
To assess the progress of our organization, we conduct review analysis at the institution level. Also to create a sportive & competitive environment within the departments we have created a ranking system in relation to the academics, research, innovations, extracurricular activities etc., which undergoes a weekly modification accordingly.
Weekly departments scoring review.
Perceptions.
Performance analysis on various rankings.
Modification of ranking parameters.
All the above modifications while deploying our strategy, have taken us to a higher platform in various fields at national and international platforms. One of our recent achievements is an incredible incline in NIRF ranking from 55 to 29 which provides strong evidence towards the development of our strategic plan.
Supporting Documents:
6.2.2: Effectiveness and efficiency of functioning of the institutional bodies as evidenced by policies, administrative setup, appointment and service rules, procedures etc.
The vision of SIMATS university is to establish a well-developed education system which allows quantitative and qualitative growth. The planning and monitoring board comprising the Vice chancellor, Registrar and various external, internal experts, UGC members will be responsible for the principal planning body of the university. All the recommendations of the new policies and proposals made by the academic council, research council, finance committee will be placed before the board of management for consideration and approval.
To allow a faster growth and development of the university, we initiated a decentralization system in 2016 and expanded it further in 2019 with active management participation in which individual institutions will be overseen by their respective dean, associate deans and head of the departments. This has allowed us to transfer the control of all the activities to various authorities rather than a single office.
Considering the inputs from the faculty in 2018 and the board of studies, our Board of management has made major transitions in faculty recruitment to attract national talent. These reforms included measures like recruitment and categorizing the existing faculty according to their merits in a qualitative manner both in academics and research instead of experience alone. And to promote and motivate the faculty, additional monetary benefits and incentives have been provided according to their added credentials.
SIMATS has been the most research focussed university in the nation. To improve further we have also increased our seed money towards it by around 7000+ lakhs in the past five years. This has resulted in more than 80+ exclusive researchers actively contributing to peer reviewed literature, which has reflected in our citations with an exponential rise of 6-fold and a H index higher than 100 within the past 3 years.
To accommodate the various number of courses that have been implemented in these five years we have made huge additions to our infrastructure. A total of 2 lakhs acres has been approved for the development of infrastructure. As a result, we now have more than 400 class rooms with audio visual facilities, more than 10 libraries, auditoriums and a sports arena expanded in 20 acres of area.
Among all the advancements that we have achieved, we are proud about our process of digitization. It includes handling all the financial operations, online education, and clinical data. We have introduced ibooks in our digital library to provide access to our students for easy academic access. We have been the most organized and successful in operating our university during the pandemic. As a tribute to our hardships, we have been awarded the Diamond rank by QS- IGUAGE ranking system with a perfect score of 150/150 in online education, teaching, learning and research. Also as a contribution to the society we have been ranked one of the top 5 hospitals for COVID 19 treatment by the India Today Health Giri awards.
Supporting Documents:
6.2.3: The University has implemented e-governance in the following areas of operation
Planning and Development
Administration (including Hospital Administration & Medical Records)
Finance and Accounts
Student Admission and Support
Examination
Any one of the above
Any Two of the above
Any Three of the above
Any Four of the above
All of the above
Supporting Documents:
Key Indicator: 6.3: Faculty and Staff Empowerment Strategies
6.3.1: The institution has effective welfare measures for teaching and non-teaching staff, and other beneficiaries.
The University has a very effective and efficient welfare measure based reimbursement system. The welfare measures include incentives, insurance coverage and support for health of the faculty and family.
Incentives
There are monthly incentives paid to employees for their workaholic and punctual faculty. The incentives are based on the quality and quantity of the clinical work guided by the faculty. The quality of the work is based on the duration and the clinical complexity of the work in the case of health care setup and the quantum of innovation in the non-health care setup. The cash incentives for the research papers is based on the indexation of the scientific papers. As an example, a scopus or Web of Science or PubMed paper carries a higher cash incentive than a non-indexed paper. In addition continuous publications in high impact journals entails a higher quantum of incentive compared to the peers.
The Faculties are encouraged to take up consultancy projects and grants from External Funding agencies, a percentage share of which is added as incentive to their monthly salary. Here we have an unique method of monitoring the students' involvement in a lecture. The classes are attended by Senior Faculties in person or via CCTV monitoring to see the involvement of the students in the class. There is also a monthly allowance of Rs.3000 paid to the employees which can be used in the multi-cuisine in-house food courts and the provision supply store. This money is credited to the food app wallet which can be used for the purchase of food or provisions. In addition, the employees are also covered under a group life insurance coverage of Rs.5,00,000.
The faculties are also given a free travel grant and encashment of earned leaves for the registration in national and international conferences and for the travel to the conference venue. In addition when they win awards, honours or fellowships in a conference a commensurate cash incentive is given to them which is in addition to the above benefits.
All the teaching and non teaching faculties are entitled to free medical care and medical facilities in the Saveetha Medical College Hospital. The staff are also entitled to annual free health check ups. The staff are also given a 2 month salaried maternity leave.The non- teaching faculties are entitled to free medicines for all their health care needs which includes even lifestyle diseases which require monthly usage of medicines. The non teaching staff are also provided with free transport facility and were also provided with free vaccination against COVID 19.
There are also cash loan facilities given to the employees at no interest cost.The employees are provided with provident fund and gratuity. There is a monthly clinical incentive calculated based on the number and complexity of the procedures guided for the students. There are also internal committees to monitor the grievances.
In addition there is a 24 hours ATM facility with banking facilities within the campus.
Supporting Documents:
Any additional information
6.3.2: Average percentage of teachers provided with financial support to attend conferences / workshops and towards membership fee of professional bodies during the last five years: Ans: 50.78%
6.3.2.1: Number of teachers provided with financial support to attend conferences / workshops and towards membership fee of professional bodies year-wise during the last five years
2020-21 2019-20 2018-19 2017-18 2016-17
213 544 176 496 467
Supporting Documents:
6.3.3: Average number of professional development / administrative training programs organised by the University for teaching and non teaching staff during the last five years
6.3.3.1: Total number of professional development / administrative training programmes organized by the Institution for teaching and non-teaching staff year-wise during the last five years
2020-21 2019-20 2018-19 2017-18 2016-17
74 18 64 51 99
Supporting Documents:
Reports of Academic Staff College or similar centres Verification of schedules of training programs
Copy of circular/ brochure/report of training program self conducted program may also be considered
Certified list of organisations / agencies that sponsored/supported/supervised the programmes
6.3.4: Average percentage of teachers undergoing Faculty Development Programmes (FDP) including online programmes (Orientation / Induction Programmes, Refresher Course, Short Term Course etc.) during the last five years. Ans: 98.7%
6.3.4.1: Total Number of teachers attending such programmes year-wise during the last five year
2020-21 2019-20 2018-19 2017-18 2016-17
885 870 800 682 575
Supporting Document
E-copy of the certificate of the program attended by teacher
Annual reports of the IQAC and the University for the last five years.
6.3.5: Institution has Performance Appraisal System for teaching and non-teaching staff
The performance appraisal of the University is multi-centric and provides ample and equitable opportunities for the faculty members.The metrics for the appraisal are transparent and easily understandable. Cumulative Annual Faculty Evaluation (CAFE) score is the starting metric which is a 360 degree assessment of the individual of their clinical, research and academic domains. The appraisal consists of self declared data in terms of the publications in indexed and non-indexed journals, projects taken up and guided for the students, contributions to text book, grants received from funding bodies, patents filed, published and commercialized. The faculties are also eligible for a monthly PHD allowance of Rs.10,000. The academic contribution and learning by the faculties are assessed in terms of the numbers of conference attended, organized, papers presented and posters presented. The awards received in the conference are also taken into consideration. In all the criteria mentioned above the data is not assessed in terms of quantity but also in terms of quality. The individual score is based on the quality of the submitted data. All the above said data is entered into the individual’s account in the online portal (Academic Record Management System-ARMS) of the University and is vetted first by the respective Department Heads every week and monthly by the Institution Heads for the authenticity of the data and is then added into the Score of the individual.
In addition to the objective data mentioned above there is also a subjective appraisal done in terms of peer appraisal, feedback collected from the students on their teaching by the faculty and also the teaching effectiveness is assessed based on the clinical work guided by them. On an annual basis the assessment of the individual cafe score, the best faculty of each department is compared to decide the best faculty of the College who in turn is compared between all the constituent colleges of the University. The top performing faculties based on these scores are awarded Annual Awards function. (Insignia)The academic teaching by the faculties is graded based on the student feedback, their understanding of the concept and active participation in the class.The ability of the teacher to freely express themselves in a sound language with confidence is assessed by the respective Heads of the institution and student feedback. The faculty are also eligible to convert their unused leaves to casual leaves and they also can encash their accrued earned leaves for attending conferences.For the non-teaching faculties, we have periodic appraisals during the course of the day by the supervisors to assess the performance and are scored based on the effectiveness of the work. These scores are cumulatively summed up and used for the calculation of the monthly incentive.Thus the appraisal system of our University is comprehensive , well regulated with counter checks to ensure the quality of work is constantly monitored with an upward improvement.
Supporting Documents:
Key Indicator 6.4: Financial Management and Resource Mobilization
6.4.1: Institutional strategies for mobilisation of funds and the optimal utilisation of resources
Fund mobilization
For the mobilization of finances and resources, as a self-financing university SIMATS maintains and executes a well-planned approach for the generation of funds and its utilization. Even though our main source of funds mobilizes form the student’s annual tuition fee, we aim to reduce the burden on student bodies by other sources such as:
Endowments in the form of assets invested by university to support its perpetuity
Funds in the form of research grants from both government and public sectors
By converting the institutes patents and other intellectual property into the in-house developed commercial products
Individual and corporate sponsorships sought for various events
Consultancy services for professionals
Developing E content to generate newer modes of revenues like master class, skills share etc.
Research consultancies generated from our advanced research labs like blue lab, white lab in various fields
By starting fellowship courses for skill development of professional to improve department revenue.
Donations from alumni
Optimization of the resource allocation
We have a decentralised finance utilization policy where individual departments are allotted capital funds for vertical development and research. The BOM allocates funds to all the departments that can be utilized by the respective HOD’s within the financial year. Whereas the unutilized funds are redistributed to the most diligent departments to promote their growth. The department's fund management is overseen by the finance committee for the most efficient use of funds, allocated for their capital and operational expenses. A brief accounting has been given in the following as a template to our financial optimization.
For the maintenance of the university academic facilities 225 crores have been designated out of which 216 crores have been used in the year 2020 - 2021.
On an average, 110 crores have been assigned for the infrastructure and asset development for the year 2020-2021, out of which 100 crores 90 lakhs have been utilized.
Among the budget for infrastructure, we have assigned funds of 45 crores specifically for research equipments for the year 2020 - 2021 out of which 43.67 crores have been utilized efficiently.
With the provision of the seed money ~ Rs. 11 crores we expanded our horizon of research in various fields and have acquired new softwares, instruments and laboratories. We also promote incentives to the most actively involved researchers in their respective fields.
Our recent addition, Virtual reality and simulation academy is the only preclinical studio in India to train students in a virtual simulation and haptic mode.
We also have actively invested (40 crores) in traditional cost centres to accommodate the newly added programmes and have established 6 colleges, 3 central libraries, sports facilities etc.
Future goals
To raise the hospital’s quality of the hospital and make it self-sustainable.
To make revenue and allocate a funds towards the service of poor.
More software applications to be added, as well as customizing protocols specific to our university.
To establish a video platform for educational purposes.
To enhance our current alumni and establish philanthropic financing.
Supporting Documents:
Link for resource mobilization policy document duly approved by BoM / Syndicate / Governing Council
Link for procedures for optimal resource utilization
6.4.2: Funds / Grants received from government / non-government bodies / philanthropists during the last five years (excluding scholarships and research grants covered under Criterion III)lakhs
6.4.2.1: Total funds / Grants received from government /non- government bodies year-wise during the last five years
2020-21 2019-20 2018-19 2017-18 2016-17
130,586,946 34,847,076 40,418,465 49,613,975 151,990,126
Supporting Documents:
List of government / non-Governmental bodies / philanthropists that provided the funds / grants
Copy of letter indicating the grants/funds received by respective agency as stated in metric
Audited statements of accounts for the last five years (Refer annexure number -01 as per SOP)
6.4.3: Institution conducts internal and external financial audits regularly
External Audit
Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences is to provide Education in 13 disciplines in accordance with the object of education and registered as Charitable Trust u/s sec 12AA of Income Tax 1961. External Audits are conducted by an Independent Chartered Accountant by evaluating the accounting system and to ensure the accounting software is able to provide a proper account in accordance with Accounting Standard. Auditors should also take into account various laws and acts that have to be followed for the operation of the Institution. Auditors should also take into account the observations made by the Audit Committee. The Audit programme of each financial year has been framed based on the operation of various educational intuitions, size of the operation and ensure that proper internal control has been followed. The Auditors should ensure that resources generated by way of academic receipts have to be utilized to achieve its objects. The Audit Report have been filed by the Auditor in form 12A(b) of act within the time limit
Internal Audit
Internal Audit System is an Independent appraisal of policies, system and internal control and ensures that all the frameworks communicated by way of circulars are adopted. The Internal Auditor Function has to verify all day to day transactions in accordance with the framework for which various audit teams have been formed to conduct audit effectively in various colleges and its verticals including weekly material Audit. It includes the audit of better utilization of resources for each department within the budgetary allocation. The Internal audit should also strengthen with cyber security professionals including information system auditors. It facilitates the standard security measures, firewalls in systems are also to be reviewed periodically. The Internal Audit should function effectively under the review of the Audit committee.
The Internal Auditors observations have been framed as Internal Audit Report and communicated to various departments in colleges. The observation made by Internal Auditors is resolved by the departments with proper documentary evidence. The Audit specified Para has been closed based on the explanations If there are any unsolved Audit paras are classified into two broad categories such as System and procedure deviation and day to day circulars are not adhered with. The deviations are examined with prima facie evidence for taking further course of action those who are negligent in discharging the duties by way of warning. It became a serious offence and suitable disciplinary action was initiated against the concerned person.
The Audit is also empowered by NABH Audit of Hospital and Health care. The ISO Audit is also conducted for academic functions, human resources and purchase functions. Environmental Audit has conducted for environment sustainability such as rain water harvesting, Zero based waste management, plantation of trees for green environment. The internal quality Assurance cell (IQAC) has conducted audits in respect of curriculum design, teaching and learning process, research activity, teaching faculty, welfare, leadership, innovation of best practices and plan to check for action
Supporting Documents:
Key Indicator: 6.5: Internal Quality Assurance System
6.5.1: Instituion has a streamlined Internal Quality Assurance Mechanism
The Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) was established in 2016 as per guidelines provided by NAAC. IQAC Director/coordinator has been designated in ensuring implementation of policies framed by the institution. The internal quality assurance cell (IQAC) of SIMATS has been working on developing the quality and monitoring performance indicators for the institution and its constituent colleges. The IQAC Cell has been instrumental for achievement and revision of the Vision, Mission, Goals and the strategic plans of SIMATS. It helps in augmenting susceptible areas requiring improvement by the feedback provided by vital stakeholders comprising alumni, parents, employees, industry and others through the management information system of the institution.
Objectives of IQAC
To instigate a common system for a constructive improvement in the academic, administrative and research performance of the institution.
To facilitate enhancement of institutional quality by enriching best practices in overall functioning of the institution.
Hierarchical organization and work flow of IQAC
At SIMATS, the IQAC ensures quality at three levels (a) Institutional level, (b) College/school level and (c) Department level. Monthly meetings are organized at departmental level Periodic meetings (once in a month) are held to monitor the progress made towards achievement of higher standards in education by the constituent colleges. The IQAC regularly also conducts weekly department audits analysing the gaps requiring improvement. Every Week HOD meetings are conducted to monitor the students and faculty performance in Academics, Clinics, Extracurricular activities and Research. The Report is submitted to the IQAC committee at college level and reports from individual colleges are corroborated and presented to the Institutional IQAC. Recommendations and suggestions are sent back to the college level IQAC for strengthening the gaps with appropriate remedial measures.
Integrating IT platforms in IQAC
We integrate Academic Record Management software (ARMS) which has been developed indigenously at SIMATS for data collection (both academic and research) and assessment. It aids in monitoring the performance by a three tier approach at (a) student level, (b), faculty level and (c) departmental level. The performances are rewarded with awards and certificates of merit at founders day (Institutional level) and Insignia (College level- at SDC). Each year the faculties of all the constituent colleges of our university submit their API (Academic Performance Index) scores each year. The API which forms a major part of the final score of CAFÉ allows the faculty to showcase their achievement in various aspects like their Conference Participation (International/National),Conference chairing, Guest lecture, Conference Organized, Book Chapter, Presentation paper/Poster. Awards, Number of Research projects Guided, Publication non indexed, indexed in Scopus, indexed in Pubmed, indexed in Reuters Impact factor, Examiner ship, and Professional body membership. Each of these achievements have a specific scoring system and they are summed to give an overall total API score of an individual faculty.
Functions of IQAC at Academic level
IQAC has significantly aided in institutionalizing the quality of all the strategies by periodically monitoring teaching learning process, operation methods and attainment of learning outcomes. Fostering academic improvement is one of the principle goals of IQAC and it achieves it through constant feedback in the form of Gurupadigam reports (faculty-parent interaction on students performance), mentor-mentee system (Faculty-student interaction) implementation and digitalization of case records. IQAC also ensures adherence to CBCS and provides an amenable environment for students in learning (student/learner centered education).
Functions of IQAC at Research level
Integrating research skills into the teaching and learning process and course outcomes is another prime function of IQAC. Ensuring flexibility in career development and integrating research into undergraduate and postgraduate programs is monitored by IQAC. Students are encouraged to participate in research activities and mandatory requirements of undertaking a research project ensures fostering research excellence. The students are evaluated for their research attributes following a formative assessment approach.
Other functions of IQAC
Documentation of various activities that leads to quality assurance and improvement. Enriching high quality benchmarks or routes for academic and other administrative activities of the institution. Establishing itself as a nodal agency for monitoring and evaluation of best practices. AQAR preparation and submission based on NAAC guidelines.
Programmes/Activities conducted by IQAC
The IQAC has also conducted Various programs related to Quality in research, Patent Drafting and filing Workshop in 2017 and Grant Writing Workshop in 2019. International Faculty Development Program on Publishing in High Impact Journals was organized in 2017. The IQAC has organized Faculty Development Programs on Funding Opportunities in FSSAI ,DST and DBT in 2020 & 2021.
Evidence of improvement following IQAC implementation
There was a significant improvement in our NIRF Ranking moving 13 places ahead from 42nd to 29th position in the Universities category and obtained 4 stars in QS Star Ratings. 300+ in THE (Times Higher Education) Ranking contributing a significant role in participation in International Ratings. The research skill and output is also greatly improved with a 3.6 times increase in the number of publications compared to last NAAC accreditation (2010-2015= 2519 documents, 2016-2021= 9135 documents).
Supporting Documents:
6.5.2: Quality assurance initiatives of the Institution include: 1. Academic and Administrative Audit (AAA) and initiation of follow-up action 2. Conferences, Seminars, Workshops on quality 3. Collaborative quality initiatives with other Institution(s) 4. Orientation programmes on quality issues for teachers and students 5. Participation in NIRF process 6. Any other quality audit by recognized State, National or International agencies ( ISO, NABH, NABL Certification, NBA, any other)
E. Any two of the above
D. Any three of the above
C. Any four of the above
B. Any five of the above
A. All of the above
Supporting Documents:
6.5.3: Impact analysis of the various initiatives carried out and used for quality improvement
Quality Assurance in Academics:
Our quality assurance cell ensures periodic reforms in curriculum, syllabus and examination pattern based on student performance and analysed feedback from the students, faculty and parents. This is executed in the Academic Council Meeting conducted on a regular basis to maintain the standards and quality of education.
Curriculum innovation
Our Academic Council identifies issues of local, regional and global importance to be implemented across multiple programs and has introduced numerous value added courses, choice based credit system (CBCS), elective credit courses, etc.
MILA - Multiple Interactive Learning Algorithm
Activity based 20 minute lectures ensures active participation from the students and also kindles their creative & reasoning skills as opposed to the conventional lectures. This has been highly effective and improved the student performance.
NEXT and NEET Training Modules
Since there was a drastic dip in the ranking in entrance examinations, these training modules were introduced to improve the results. A sharp increase in the number of students securing high ranks was observed post the modules.
Quality Assurance in Student Welfare
Saveetha Student Council (S-TEAM : Saveetha - Together Everyone Achieves More) is a diverse student body that encompasses students through all learning curves across different disciplines. In order to fill the lacunae in parent teacher interactions as suggested in parent teacher association meetings, weekly update about student performance - Gurupadigam report (Mentor : Mentee ratio - 1:6) is sent to ensure constant updation of information to the parents in order to improve the student productivity in academic and clinical arenas.
Quality Assurance in Research:
Undergraduate research has been our brainchild and has helped our university to improve our research and publications in leaps and bounds. Our seed money towards it increased by around 7000+ lakhs in the past five years. Saveetha`s Professional Centre for Innovation and Incubation, “STEPUP” (Science and Technology Incubator) etc are promoted by us to ensure continuous research and development for technology transfer and product development.
Administrative and Technological Reforms:
SIMATS also adopted decentralisation and participative management for constituent colleges. Centralized departments had difficulties in reaching out to the needs of each and every student but under the jurisdiction of present format, the count reduces to 10 or 20 students under each department. Hence dual care and attention by both the mentor and the concerned HOD is feasible. Their academic performances and personal grievances also have been addressed better. This was reflected in the improvements in webinars, CDE programs, FDPs attended & conducted and research activity also increased two fold.
Owing to shortcomings of carrying books for classes and during travel, maintaining case records, voluminous journal issues etc, paperless system was introduced in SIMATS which made us the First University in India to shift to a completely to digital record management systems including
-DIAS - Dental Information Archiving Software
-ARMS - Academic Record Management System - an online portal for student and faculty for data management, course creation, academic scores, attendance, internal marks evaluation, formative evaluation, extra-curricular activities, grievances and infrastructure issues can also be reported to the respective authorities.
Supporting Documents: