To create awareness about the importance of quality assurance in higher education among the hierarchy of DUHS and to develop an understanding and take feedback about self assessment procedures as defined by Higher Education Commission, Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) in collaboration with Higher Education Commission (HEC) organized a Seminar on “Quality Assurance in Higher Education” at Arag Auditorium of Dow Medical College, Karachi.
Prof. Azam Ali Khwaja speaking as the Chief Guest on the occasion spoke at length about the measures taken by the commission for effectively establishing quality enhance cells (QEC) in every public and private sector universities of the country for the enhancement and maintenance of quality education.
He said the mission of a quality assurance agency working within the HEC was to safeguard public interests by enforcing good practices in education. He said that to strengthen quality assurance programmes at universities, the HEC had established QECs in 84 universities of the country and 15 of them belonged to the private sector.
Lauding the measures taken by the DUHS for ensuring quality education at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels for capacity building in various health-related fields, he said that he was pleased to see the the rapid progress made by the university in just seven years under the leadership of Prof Masood Hameed, who achieved this feat with the dedication of the faculty members. The tremendous achievements made by the DUHS in such a short time is a matter of pride not only for the Karachiites but for the people of the entire country also,” he said.
He hoped that the DUHS, ranked 13 by the HEC in research activities among the 134 universities of the country, would further rise on a new ranking chart to be issued by the commission by the end of this year.
Prof. Masood Hameed Khan, Vice Chancellor-DUHS speaking on Governance in Higher Education at DUHS said that Dow University has always been in the forefront for accepting and adapting best practices in the field of Education. Recognizing the role that it has to play in higher education sector, DUHS has established a Quality Enhancement Cell. This cell has the responsibility to ensure that the university’s quality assurance procedures are compatible with international standards and are designed to improve the quality of higher education.
Furthermore, he also briefed the audience about the steps taken by DUHS to have quality enhancement at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The major steps taken in this regard including establishment of separate institute for capacity building in health related field likes nursing, medical technology, physical medicine, oral health sciences, health management. More than 40 news establishments are providing more than forty degree and diploma courses of undergraduate and postgraduate levels. All teaching programs are closely monitored by quality assurance department of DUHS following HEC guidelines.
Dr. A. Wahid Usmani, Director, Quality Enhancement Cell (QEC) of DUHS discussed the importance and need of Quality assurance in Higher Education in Universities and highlighted the Self Assessment Procedures as defined by HEC. He also spoke on qualitative measures adopted by QEC to enhance and maintain quality of education.
The highlighted aspect is the maintenance of highly quality standard of education due to several measures adopted for quality enhancement including continuous teacher evaluation in all departments and institutes, online feedback system for student and faculty. Academic audit of different programs through teaching portfolio, student’s guidance and counseling through mentor system. Due to successful conduction of quality enhancement system the Dow quality department has established a network with 135 quality assurance members and its provides training to 86 universities throughout Pakistan
Prof. Nazeer Khan, Director, Department of Research, DUHS on the occasion said that our department is providing facilities which include Undergraduate Research Program, Journal of DUHS, Registration of Research Projects, Faculty profile, Abstract books, Institutional Review Board, Funding of Research Project, Undergraduate Research, Postgraduates Program, PhD Program, Foreign Scholarship Program etc. In last two years, 200 studies have been conducted and presented by the DMC undergraduate students and they are also available in students research book form. The same type of research activities is being conducted at SMC also. The Department is also providing both academic related activities as well as research related activities including Students and Faculty Research day. Research Department would soon launch faculty profile on DUHS website which would help all DUHS faculty members to be in search engines like Google and others.
Prof. Junaid Ashraf, Chairman Postgaduates program gave presentation on undergrates and postgraduates courses conducted at DUHS. He also mentioned the strategies of DUHS to keep up the standard of education. He said that Dow University was the first university to introduce the semester system in the country, adding that the university was now running six undergraduate and two postgraduate programmes. He stressed the need for overcoming the shortage of teachers in the wake of a mushroom growth of medical colleges in the country.
Earlier, Prof. M. Umer Farooq, Pro-Vice Chancellor-DUHS offered vote of thanks.