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Role of Office
The Office of the Advisor QA & LI supervises the activities of both the Quality Assurance and Learning Innovation Departments of the Higher Education Commission. The QA & LI Division has four independent sections working together i.e. Quality Assurance, Learning Innovation, Accreditation & Attestation and Statistics. These sections in addition to other functions are also running development projects on Faculty Development, English Language Teaching Reforms, Quality Assurance Agency and the National Academy of Higher Education. The Division works in close collaboration with National Committee on Quality Assurance, National Committee on English and National Committee on Examination Systems. The focus of the Quality Assurance Department is to develop and implement quality enhancement, assurance and accreditation mechanisms at universities across the country, with the aim of achieving parity with international standards of quality in higher learning. The Quality Assurance program of the HEC essentially has three major components, namely the development of criteria and standards for various quality parameters in higher education, the development of processes and capacity building to ensure implementation of these criteria, and the development of a system of self assessment to evaluate quality at the Program and Institution level. The QA department also conducts institutional accreditation and coordinates the activities of subject-specific Accreditation Councils for the accreditation of academic programs. The Learning Innovation Department aims to improve the quality of teaching at universities in Pakistan through a range of innovative programs geared towards capacity development of higher education faculty members. These include both short and long-term training programs focusing on key areas such as improvement in pedagogy, enhancement of communication and computer skills, advanced assessment methodologies and enhancement of subject knowledge
About the Advisor Quality Assurance and Learning Innovation
Dr. Syed Mahmood Raza is currently serving as the Advisor (QA & LI) at the Higher Education Commission, where he has also held the portfolio of Advisor (Research & Development). Dr. Raza did his MSc from University of the Punjab, Lahore in Geology and went on to do his MPhil and PhD in the same subject from Yale University, USA. He obtained his Post-doctoral Fellowships from Harvard University, USA and Cambridge University, UK. He has also been a Research Associate at the Peabody Museum of Harvard University. Prior to his joining HEC in July 2003, Dr. Raza was a Professor at the North-Eastern Ohio College of Medicine, USA. The Government of Pakistan has recently appointed him as a member of the Board of Governors of the Hydrocarbon Development Institute of Pakistan. Dr. Raza has published a number of research papers in national and international journals and contributed articles in several edited books. He is a Fellow of the Pakistan Academy of Geological Sciences. |