National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) - … · 2020-02-13 · of NUST formulated...

Compliance Implementation Plan on IPE Visit by HEC

Areas of Concern Recommendations Corrective Action

1. Mission and Vision, although

defined and reviewed, but no

evidence of approval from statuary

bodies was provided however,

mission and vision are part of

vision 2022 which is still in

process of approval.

Vision and Mission should be

defined with the involvement of

stakeholders and approved by

appropriate statutory bodies.

Proper documentation of

relevant discussions and

approvals should be maintained.

Implemented. Revised Vision and Mission

of NUST formulated with the input of all the

stakeholders has been approved i.e by

NUST Academic Council. Approval

received vide minutes, of the 53rd Academic

Council Meeting through Acad Dte letter

No. 092/202/53rd ACM/Minutes/Acad dated

26 Sept 2019.

2 a. Liaison offices need to be

established at all constituent

colleges for effective coordination

with Career Development center at

central level. 2 b. Career

Development Center (CDC) is

severely understaffed. Only one

staff member is currently working

at CDC, managing all career

development activities.

Career Development Center

(CDC) should be strengthened

with adequate human resources

to cover main campus and

constituent colleges. Also to

fulfill its other mandates

including collecting and

maintaining feedback from

students regarding their

internships.

Specific liaison offices for CDC are not

required as the system is automated and

controlled centrally along with support

offices of program coordinators who

manage CDC activities at each School /

College.

As there are workshops of different

nature under, it is not possible for a

single resource person to deliver all of

these workshops. Therefore, the only

member of CDC is supported through

hired resource person(s) whose services

are taken based on specialization

required for CDC related workshops.

Administratively, CDC comprises of 1x

Officer, but is augmented through hired

resources as explained.

3. Placement office shall offer

placement and internship related

events and seminars all constituent

colleges keeping in view the

academic calendar.

The placement office services

should be extended to

constituent colleges, presently it

mainly caters the needs of main

campus.

All recruitment related events are

planned and executed as per the

available dates and time slots keeping in

view the academic calendar of all

schools as well as constituent colleges.

All the constituent colleges and schools

are sent out the intimation letter of all the

recruitment related activities scheduled

during the academic semester. However,

the number of such activities do vary


based on disciplines at each constituent

college as well as the number of students

in each discipline.

All events are well coordinated with

respective school / college Industry

Liaison Officers (ILOs) (dedicated

officers with placement as one of their

prime task), to ensure no clash with any

other activity / event happens in school

/college. The events calendar is issued at

least 15 x days prior the first activity

planned for a month (the plan cannot be

shared earlier than this, as industry

partners usually request for the date /

time slot 1 – 3 x weeks prior the

intended activity).

4. Systematic uniform

implementation be ensured for

faculty career planning in line with

HEC guidelines.

The University should ensure

proper implementation of

faculty appointment and

promotion criteria that is

defined for the university and

prescribed by HEC.

NUST promotion and appointment criteria

for faculty members has been developed

under the guidance of HEC and is being

implemented in its true letter and spirit.

5. Faculty training modules

are not available and all faculty

inducted are not trained in

systematic manner with

insufficient progress tracking of all

newly inducted faculty.

The university should prepare

training module/manual that

should assist HR in capacity

building of new faculty

induction as well as continuous

professional development. More

focus is required on teaching

pedagogy and assessment.

Trainings & Development for NUST

Faculty Members

1. Human Resource Development is

considered as an important component of

any university to keep its highly specialized

and diverse work force prepared for the

university specific needs and requirement. In

this regard, various training programs are

organized at NUST, other reputable local

training institutes and abroad to prepare our

faculty to meet their responsibilities in a

befitting manners. All out efforts are being

made to improve the skills for all NUST

faculty members regardless of gender, race


or age so as to optimize efficiency. Major

objectives are as under: -

a. To conduct high quality professional

development training / short courses for all

faculty members so that they can acquire

state of the art knowledge to maximize their

efficiency.

b. To create university linkage for solving

faculty members problems through short

training courses/ workshops on latest

technology, innovation and issues.

c. To organize short term trainings and

workshops for continued professional

development of NUST faculty and staff as

per university HR requirements.

Local Training (Nationwide)

2. NUST faculty members actively

participate in national / international

trainings & workshops. Capacity building

activities are sponsored by NUST

institutions, HEC, and other national

organizations. Local training institutes of

Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar e.g. PPMI

& PMI etc are time to time contacted for

conduct of specialized trainings as and when

required to keep NUST faculty members up

to date with latest technologies and trends.

Local Training (Within NUST/ PDC) 3. For the sake of further improving the

knowledge and capabilities, NUST offers

Continuing Education programs by

providing an extensive array of continuous

education, professional development, and

training opportunities for its faculty

members. This is achieved through short


trainings, courses, lectures and other

organized developmental activities. Faculty

professional development encompasses

various faculty development activities

covering professional cycle of individuals.

Faculty Orientation 4. New faculty joining NUST is put

through an orientation training before they

join respective institutions followed by

mentoring through senior faculty.

5. Internal Training for Faculty 5. In

order to keep abreast with latest teaching

trends, a 3 years theoretical/ practical

internal training program has been prepared

for NUST faculty, where each faculty

member has to undergo a mandatory training

on specific topics including MOOCS. It has

designed for progressive development and

grooming of NUST faculty members to

impact on their quality of teaching &

learning and categorized into two tiers as

following: -

a. Tier 1

(Junior)

All Lecturers + Assistant

Professors less than 3

years services

b. Tier 2

(Senior)

All Lecturers + Assistant

Professors greater than 3

years services

c. Tier 2 Principals, Deans,

Commandants, Professors,

Associate Professors,

RVF, HoDs

6. Tier wise main contents are appended

below: -


a. Tier 1: (Junior)

Year 1 (8 days)

Welcome to NUST- Orientation

Teaching Skills & Outcome Based

Education (OBE)

Stress & Time Management

Year 3 (1 day)

Leadership Skills-I (Intro)

Entrepreneurship-I (Intro)

b. Tier 1: (Senior)

Year 4 (2.5 days)

New Trends in Teaching Strategies

Outcome Based Education (OBE)

Year 5 (2 days)

Proposal Writing for Funding

Conducting Need Based Research

Year 6 (1 day)

Leadership Skills – II (Advanced)

c. Tier 2

Year 7 (1 day)

Academic Leadership

Management Skills

Year 8 (1 day)

Education Administration

Mentoring Approaches

Year 9 (1 day)

Conflict Resolution

Negotiation Skills

d. MOOCS

Any 2 x MOOCs

Communication Skills

English Language

Decision Making


7. Please note that training of Tier 1

(Junior) & Tier 1 (Senior) has already been

conducted during Aug 2018 & Jan 2019

respectively, however, training of Tier 2 is

schedule from 5-8 Aug 2019, tentatively.

6 a. There is a serious concern

related to retention of faculty due

to lack of job security, allied

benefits and allowances at par with

most of the public sector

universities and high level of

dissatisfaction mostly among the

young faculty working at Assistant

Professor Level and below as they

are not satisfied with HR policies

and decisions.

The university should work on

uniform pay structure, faculty

housing, allied allowances

matching other public sector

universities and medical

coverage for faculty to ensure

better faculty retention.

NUST salary package are generally

kept at par with local universities by

granting advance increments at the time of

pay fixation process involving all

dimensions of scholastic achievements e.g

research profile, experience, qualification,

students’ supervision and market factor etc.

For better retention, following

facilities are being provided by NUST to its

faculty members: -

The compensation package includes

free medical facilities on-campus as

well as in CMH/MH for faculty and

employees. ▪ Free life insurance is

provided to all employees up to Rs

1,000,000/-.

High performing faculty members

are compensated by granting

advance increments to make their

salary at par with their market value.

On-campus housing facility is also

provided subject to availability of

accommodation.

Spouse and children are provided

with the benefit of one-half of the

tuition rate to obtain their UG/MS

Degree at NUST.

For career development, the faculty

member can attend International

workshops, joint research, short

courses within Pakistan and abroad.

Opportunities are also provided to


6 b. There is a serious concern

related to provision of official

residences for faculty at both main

campus and constituent colleges.

faculty to obtain higher

qualifications through split or other

collaborative programmes within

NUST and abroad subject to their

performance.

Further salary enhancement are

linked to budgetary provisions from

Govt of Pakistan. HEC also needs to

review the TTS pay package, which

has not been revised since 2015.

1. Total Accommodation in NUST H-12

Campus apartments are 308 of various

categories in which married faculty/ officer

are accommodated. Besides 132 Single

Faculty/ Officer accommodated in single

Faculty Accommodation.

2. 2 x High Rise Building (Ground Plus

seven stories) are under construction.

3. Constituent colleges have their own

faculty accommodation facility.

7 a. Limited provision of sports

facilities for female faculty &

students.

7 b. There is lack of mechanism

to maintain sports related facilities

in campus.

Sport facilities should be

provided for female students,

or, where limited facilities are

available, time slots should be

allotted for female students

only.

Following sports facilities are provided to

Female students by NUST: -

Indoor

a 2x Table

Tennis

Dedicated

b Basketball On Demand

c 1x Badminton Dedicated

d Volleyball On Demand

e Separate Fitness

Gym Only for

females f Yoga Classes

Outdoor

a. Volleyball Dedicated

outdoor sports

complex for

b Basketball

c Futsal


d Lawn Tennis females

e Netball

f. Horse Riding Time Slot

allotted for

females

2. NUST also provide the following

facilities in female hostels: -

a. a. Basketball b. Badminton

c. Ladies Gym

b. d. Carom Board

c. e. Chess, Ludoo

3. Moreover, a new sports complex is

under construction which will also provide

following separate sports facilities to female

students: -

a. Swimming Pool b. Separate Fitness Gym

c. Bowling Alley d. Skating

e. Climbing Wall f. Archery

g. Tennis

4. In response to the observation at para

7b of above ref eION, it is submitted that

there is a proper mechanism and routine of

sports facilities maintenance. The

grounds are sprinkled daily and grass

cutting/ground marking is carried out on

regular basis. All indoor equipment's are

maintained properly and quality sports items

are provided in each ground for playing.

Ground maintenance staff remain on duty all

the time in each sports facility.


8 a. There is a lack of

transparency at various levels

particularly financial transparency.

8 b Copies of approved budget

and audited accounts are only

shown to visitation team but were

not provided with hard copies of

the same for review.

University should be more

transparent in terms of sharing

printed copies of approved

budgets and audited reports

with the review panel; since

public money is involved.

University is following a transparent

reporting mechanism. Annual Budget and

audited Financial Statements of the

university are regularly shared with all BoG

members including HEC.

9. No book bank facility is

available in central library.

Book bank facility should be

made available in the central

library.

A limited book bank facility has been

established on the 2nd floor of Central

Library. Moreover, with the introduction of

e-books, the university has established e-

book repository which is accessible on

library website for students to download e-

textbooks free of cost.

10. Based on review of

available documentation, (Table 7,

Vol 2, UPR), visitation team

observed that large number of

Assistant Professors are hired

against lesser number of

sanctioned posts. While a large

number of sanctioned positions

Associate and Full Professors

levels are currently lying vacant

across the University.

Reference data regarding the

number of sanctioned post from

lecturer to professor and the

actual number of faculty

members working at those posts

should be reviewed.

Faculty is authorized based on the

following student teacher ratio: -

▪ UG 1 : 20

▪ MS 1: 12

▪ PhD 1 : 5

Total of 804 faculty members are

authorized for 12055 students based on

the above ratios.

Presently 711 faculty members are held

at NUST with 93 slots to be filled.

NUST being relatively new university

has constraints in completing the

professorial ranked pyramid. Assistant

Professors being entry level for PhD

qualified faculty members, are hired and

promoted after fulfilment of the

requirements.

Senior professorial ranked (Associate

and full Professor) faculty members are

less due to stringent BPS and TTS


promotion criteria and non-availability

of these senior faculty members in the

open market.

11. Based on review of

available documentation, formal

admission policy does not exist.

Formal admission policy should

be devised.

Admission procedure / Policy is available in

NUST statutes, Part-II Chapter II.

12. Access to research based

equipment is limited in nature in

terms of working hours.

Furthermore, regular maintenance

is not carried out for some of the

specialized equipment.

NUST has extended lab timings for all

research labs from 1700 hrs to 2100 hrs. All

NUST research labs are functional from

0900 hrs to 2100 hrs with availability of

power supply and backup power around the

clock to allow continuity of research

experiments without a break. Lab timings

are further extended as per requirement.

13. There is a concern related

to use of pirated software’s in most

of the simulation based

laboratories.

University should make every

effort to use only licensed

software for teaching, research

and official use.

NUST encourages the use of open source

softwares (list attached as Annex ‘A’).

Furthermore, limited proprietary softwares

have been purchased from the existing

budget (list attached as Annex ‘B’). There is

however, number of proprietary software

required (list attached as Annex ‘C’) and

pirated versions are being used due to

financial constraints. All efforts will be

made to purchase licensed software as and

when the budgetary constraints allow.

14 a. During interaction with

students, it was observed that most

of the students, both male and

female, were not satisfied with

hostel based service and facilities

including quality of food, water

and network services, etc.

14 b. The review panel observed

that the quality of drinking water

University should ensure that

basic necessities such as clean

drinking water, good quality

food, hot water, internet, etc,

are available in the hostels.

a. It is submitted that on monthly basis

inspection of food is being carried out

by NUST Medical Centre.

b. Food Handlers medical is also made on

quarterly basis.

c. Internet complaints are launched by

Manager (Hostel) and rectify by ICT Dte

on daily basis.

d. Water filters are changed after three

months.

e. PH and Biological Test of water is also


in campus, particularly in hostels,

does not meet minimum standard

for safe drinking water.

carried by IESE on monthly basis. Last

report attached as Annex ‘E’.

15. There is no mechanism of

gathering feedback on internship

effectiveness.

The mechanism of feedback follows a 3-

tiered structure as follows:

o Tier – 1: Feedback from individual

students as per the pre shared

template

o Tier – 2: Based on tier – 1 feedback,

school / colleges consolidate

feedback and forward to main office

NUST against a pre-shared template

o Tier-3: Main office NUST

consolidates / analyses feedbacks

received from all school / colleges

and makes decisions accordingly

This mechanism has now been automated

alongwith other processes related to NUST

Internship program (NIP) through an

application called NUST Internship Program

Application (NIPA), launched in March

2019. It has 4 x stages:

i. Student Registration

ii. Slot Acquisition and Allocation

iii. Joining Confirmation

iv. Feedback

16. Curricula are revised on

regular basis through relevant

statutory bodies, however role of

stakeholders in curriculum review

process is limited.

It is recommended that relevant

stakeholders be involved

formally in curriculum revision

process as well in feasibility

process for launching new

programs.

Several curriculum review committees have

been formed which are involved in

curriculum revision process as well as

launching of new programs at various tiers

of academic hierarchy. Members from

industry / corporate sectors are part of these

committees (list attached as Annex ‘D’).

Furthermore, Industry Advisory Boards

(IABs) have been formed to establish close

liaison with industry and alumni to get real


time feedback on updating the curriculum

with respect to industry needs and launching

of new programs based on market demand.

17 a. Learning outcomes, though

incorporated in curricula for most

of the programs, lack the evidence

to support the claim that listed

outcomes are approved by the

statutory bodies.

17 b. There is lack of assessment

strategies for assessment of

learning outcomes, which leads to

non-existence of effective analysis

based on requisite data. There is

no mechanism provided for

revision of learning outcomes.

Complete cycle for learning

outcome based academic

program need to be defined

from formulation of defined

learning outcome in a particular

learning domain, appropriate

assessment strategies and

effective analysis based on

obtained data as part continuous

quality improvement.

NUST have a comprehensive assessment

system of Learning Outcomes. Students are

assessed regularly according to defined

learning outcomes which are made part of

the Self-Assessment Reports. All assessment

scores pertain to defined learning outcomes

are uploaded in CMS Grade book. Cohort

and individual attainments are assessed

against the defined KPIs. NUST strictly

follow and implement PEC manual in letter

& spirit. Analysis of the outcome is

presented in FBS regularly for corrective

measures where ever required. This is

necessary part of CQI loop practiced at all

institutions.

18. There is no written formal

communication policy regarding

communication strategy for

dissemination of regulations, rules

and policies.

Formal communication policy

need to be prepared and

approval from relevant statutory

bodies need to be obtained.

SOPs may also need revision in

the light of new communication

policy.

A three step procedure is being followed at

NUST regarding communication and

dissemination of Regulations, Rules,

Policies and SOPs. Minutes of the meetings

of UCRCs / UCAPs / ACMs are

documented with clear deadlines and are

monitored closely. Quality checks are being

maintained at every tier i.e., department,

school and university and it is ensured that

the decisions are disseminated to all

concerned and the policies are complied

with by the institution for which reports /

returns are timely generated and monitored

through a well documented procedure for

effective checks and balances.

19. There is no structured

mechanism to get feedback from

general public.

Formal mechanism be

introduced to receive proper

feedback from general public.

1. Generally, standard international

practice followed by public/private sector

organizations, to take feedback from general


public, is ‘the availability of all/ relevant

contact details (contact numbers & email

IDs) on the organization’s website’. The

concerned audiences (potential students,

industry members, alumni, potential

employees, etc.) should be able to contact

the relevant departments at the organization.

NUST Website already has all such relevant

details under Contact Us section.

2. In addition to the above, Pakistan

Citizen Portal (NUST section of which is

being managed by P&R office), is already

functional, and the very purpose of this

portal is to ensure that general public can

post queries and complaints regarding public

sector organizations. NUST’s responses on

the PCP are timely and effective.

3. As for M&C Dte, “general public,” as

mentioned in para 1, constitutes different

audience groups, for which dedicated

departments at NUST exist, e.g. Alumni

office manages all alumni affairs,

Admissions Dte is responsible for dealing

with potential students, CAC/RIC manage

industry contacts, and so on.

4. General public feedback is already being

effectively managed at the institutional

level, through the platforms and mechanisms

described above.

20. Grievances redressal

committee exists but meetings are

not held on regular basis due to

lack of cases being reported due to

various factors.

Grievances redressal system

need to be expanded to cover all

student, faculty and staff of the

university with proper follow

up procedure.

1. A comprehensive ‘Grievance Procedure’

for all employees has already been approved

by 19th BOG and is a part of NUST HR

Manual.

2. As per the guidelines of HEC, students

Grievances redressel committees have

already been formed at each school / college

level. At central level there is a Review


Committee as under to review the decisions

of Institutional Grievances Committee if

required and its decision is taken as final.

(1) Chairman - Pro-Rector (Acad)

(2) Members: - Dir Administration,

Dir PGP, Dir Acad,

Dir Finance, Dir

Student Affairs and

Registrar (Secretary)

21. There is a provision of

constitution of Council of

Regents in the University Act

which may be constituted to

reach out to the community and

professionals for further

enhancement of quality.

Council of Regents/Advisory Board

1. All school/colleges of NUST have

respective Advisory Boards (Regents) in

lieu of council of regents. These boards have

representation of 8 – 15 members of

following segments: -

a. Leading Educationists

(National and International)

b. Members from relevant leading

industry

c. Senior Alumni of the institution

d. College/School Management

2. Advisory board (Regents) members

play a vital role for trustees in providing key

information and developments in their

respective fields. In this way, they assist

board trustees in identifying and

implementing best practice standards for

new and existing programs. The meetings

are held minimum once a year.

22. University should devise a

policy against academic fraud

and theft.

NUST is following HEC plagiarism policy.

Same policy is disseminated to all faculty /

students.


23. The university should bring

revenue, budget and expenses

on ERP.

Accounting software is already being used.

However, an advance version of ERP has

been implemented w.e.f Current Financial

Year (CFY) which would enable the

availability of Budget Estimates on ERP.

National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) - … · 2020-02-13 · of NUST formulated...

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Transcript of National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) - … · 2020-02-13 · of NUST formulated...