Minutes of Council Meetings

Minutes of the Second Meeting of National Agriculture Education Accreditation Council


(March 31, 2008)

The Second meeting of the National Agriculture Education Accreditation Council (NAEAC) was held on March 31, 2008 at 1000 hours in the Committee Room of PARC HQ’s, Islamabad, to standardize the formats, procedures and criteria to proceed with the Accreditation Process. The meeting was chaired by Dr. M. E. Tusneem, Chairman, NAEAC and attended by members of the Council (List Attached).

2. The meeting commenced with the recitation from the Holy Quran, followed by the approval of the Minutes of First Meeting by the Council Members.

3. The Chair welcomed the Council members to the Second Meeting of the Council. He thanked HEC for notification of full membership of the Council and stressed the members to own this council and share responsibility to accomplish its objectives, while highlighting the mandate of the Council. He remarked that Council will recommend accreditation of only those degree awarding academic programs which meet the threshold criteria set by the Council /HEC. A brief account of the work progress in NAEAC Secretariat was also given. He outlined the main objective of the Second Meeting to standardize the formats, procedures and criteria to proceed with the accreditation process and sought the comments of members on various pro-formae and procedures tabled at the meeting.

4. A summary of decisions reached at the meeting is given below.

Agenda Item #1: Pro-formae for Submission of Institutional Self Study Report (SSR).

Detailed discussions were held on Institutional Self Study Pro-formae (Eight forms). The chair indicated that the forms were reduced from twenty one (21) to eight after exhaustive review to avoid redundancy and duplication. Several members gave useful suggestions to improve the forms which were duly incorporated.

Decision: The forms were discussed in detail and adopted with minor revisions. The revised forms will be e-mailed to the Council Members for any further comments before finalization.

Agenda Item #2: Criteria and Procedure fro the selection of Program Evaluators.

Program Evaluators selection criteria, procedure and performance assessment criteria were discussed in detail, some changes were proposed by the Members like to combine part (i) & (iv) in the selection criteria. It was the view point of some Members to eliminate the performance assessment criteria for Program Evaluators because they will be assessed during the selection criteria. The Chair clarified that this performance assessment criteria after the job done is the requirement of the HEC so we can’t eliminate it but can revise it as necessary to meet the objectives.

Decision: It was agreed that the Evaluators Performance Assessment Criteria be revised to make it clearer reflecting the yardstick of Performance Assessment and the same be e-mailed to the members for their review.

Agenda Item #3: Accreditation Framework.

Accreditation Framework comprising various aspects was discussed and the categories of possible outcomes with regard to Accreditation were also deliberated. The Council members proposed minor changes in the definition of W, X, Y and Z categories set by HEC. The members also proposed to eliminate point (viii) of Para 3.i.e. “The accreditation is for the program and not for the institute/university. Every batch (entry) shall be accredited in the alternate years which is evaluated for accreditation in the 1st year shall be re-evaluated in the 3rd semester and likewise the batch in 2nd year shall be re-evaluated in the 4th year.

Decision: It was agreed that the definition of W,X,Y and Z be modified as discussed and eliminate the point (viii) of Para 3.

Agenda Item #4: Evaluation Manual.

Evaluation Manual for Program Evaluators was presented before the Council Members. Weightage of major and minor criteria was considered appropriate. It was however, proposed that there should be no weightage given to the Agricultural Colleges with respect to Research and Consultancy’ criterion and its score may be distributed among the major criteria.

Decision: It was agreed unanimously that weightage criteria of ‘Research and Consultancy’ criterion is not relevant to the Agricultural Colleges, so its marks will not be counted in the weightage criteria of Agricultural Colleges.

Agenda Item #5: Honorarium for Program Evaluators.

Proposed Honorarium for Program Evaluators/Experts was reviewed with respect to the existing practices in the other Accreditation Councils of HEC. The members proposed that the existing practice of National Computing Education Accreditation Council (NCEAC) may be adopted.

Decision: The Program Evaluators may be paid Rs.5,000/- per day as remuneration while on accreditation visit in addition to TA/DA as per HEC rules.

Agenda Item #6: Orientation of Program Evaluators.

Orientation of Program Evaluators was discussed in detail and the Secretary Council briefed the Members that as per clause 10 and subsection (l) and (m) of the bye-laws of NAEAC, the council has to select as well as provide orientation of the Program Evaluators. As the roster of Program Evaluators/Experts has already been developed and will be updated regularly, now orientation of the Evaluators/Experts has become due.

Decision: It was agreed that HEC may be requested to facilitate the orientation Program of Evaluators/Experts after the selection process is completed by the council.

Agenda Item #7: Accreditation Fee Structure.

The proposed Accreditation Fee structure was also reviewed. In Pakistan, Agricultural Institutions of higher learning are by and large in the public sector. These institutions charge very low tuition fees/funds from students and their main source of funding is Government annual budgetary allocations. Also the members were informed that there are only Five Agricultural Universities, Two Agricultural Faculties (in general universities) and Seven Agricultural Colleges in Pakistan. The fee structure in these Institutions is very low and ranges from Rs.3,000/- to Rs.5,500/- per semester for undergraduate as well as graduate students. Similarly, the annual budget allocations for some of the Academic Programs of the Agricultural Faculty of University of Faisalabad (UAF) do not exceed Rs.0.2-0.5 Million.

Decision: There was general consensus on the Accreditation fee of Rs.25,000/- and Rs.10,000/- for University and College respectively per degree program to be charge from the University/Institution as the Academic Programs always have small budget allocations.

Agenda Item #8: NAEAC Budget Allocations.

NAEAC Budget Allocation and expenditure incurred during the last two quarters was briefed by the Secretary-NAEAC to the Council Members and also informed about the new budgetary requirements of Rs.3.00 million for FY 2008-09. After some discussions, the Council members considered proposed demand as adequate.

Decision: The proposal of NAEAC Secretariat budgetary requirements for FY 2008-09 was endorsed.


Conclusion

The meeting adjourned with vote of thanks to the Chair.


Minutes of First NAEAC Meeting

Minutes of Third NAEAC Meeting