Focus on sustaining quality benchmarks in education: PIM Faculty at PPC

PIM’s Dean and Faculty Members as Resource Persons for NAAC Workshop Organised at Poornaprajna College , Udupi

Application of information technology, teamwork, sharing of knowledge, mutual trust and respect, division of labour, specialisation, harmony in group action than discord, goal orientation, subordination of individual interest to organisational interest, continuous learning, and synergistic attitude are the keys to achieve success observed the dean and faculty members of PIM in a NAAC related workshop organised by the Poornaprajna Degree College, a sister concern of PIM.

PIM's Dean Dr.Sureshramana Mayya, IQAC Co-ordinator Dr.Naveen Kumar KR and NAAC Co-ordinator Dr.Bharathi Karanth shared their knowledge with the faculty members of Poornaprajna Degree college. The workshop was organised by PPC on the topic "New Accreditation system of NAAC " on 19th March 2020 at the Mini Auditorium of Poornaprajna College. The principal of the College Dr.Raghavendra A. presided over the programme.

The programme began at 10.00 am in the morning with the introductory remarks of the Principal of PPC Dr. Raghavendra A where he stated that Poornaprajna College is very proud of its sister concern 'Poornaprajna Institute of Management' (PIM) securing A+ in it's very first NAAC accreditation process concluded on 26th April 2019. The achievement becomes significant as PIM is one among the 4% of the institutions in India to secure the A+ grade with 3.32 CGPA.

The session began with Dr. Gopal Gokhale , Associate Professor of Statistics, the NAAC Coordinator of PPC, who is conversant with the NAAC process ( He single-handedly drafted the Governance, leadership and systems Criteria 6 in the previous NAAC Assessment) communicating to the gathering about the requirements of the New system of NAAC Assessment. Prof. Gokhale explained the Electronic Data Management System (EDMS) designed by him whereby he automated the Data Collection Process for all the criteria starting from Criterion one (1) to Criterion Seven (7) through the use of Google Forms. He explained the necessity of filling the details as the programs get concluded and urged the staff members to assist in the process of data collection. Though he is in charge of Criterion 5, the system developed by him had a holistic approach i.e. could be effectively utilised for data collection and recording by people in charge of different criterion.

Dr. Bharathi Karanth, the NAAC Coordinator of PIM stated that PIM secured A+grade with 3.32 CGPA due the teamwork of the people working at PIM which includes the Principal, faculty members and non-teaching staff of the institution. NAAC is a quality improvement initiative which makes everyone understand that mutual cooperation, goodwill and teamwork culminates in the achievement of objectives. PIM could achieve success due to the open mind it had in taking the guidance from the number of knowledgeable resource persons starting from the professors of PIM's sister concerns, Dr. A P Bhat, Dr. Raghavendra A, Dr. Jagadish Shetty, Professor Kishore Rao, Dr.Sukanya Mary (SPEC) and Professor Durga Lakshmi (SPEC). PIM has adopted a strategy of learning from the experience of numerous professors who were well acquainted with the NAAC accreditation process. PIM considered the viewpoints and opinions of not just the 'winners' but also those who could not achieve the required grades. PIM worked on the principle that there is lot to learn from failures than successes. PIM consulted the people in charge of numerous Post -Graduate Institutes and Undergraduate institutes which had already undergone the NAAC process and could get valuable insights about the new system through attending NAAC related workshops. Dr. Jayaprakash of AJ Institute of Management, Dr. Krishna Bhat from Government College Karkala and Dr.Krishna from Kateel government college deserve a special mention in this regard. Very supportive alumni and highly loyal, motivated students of PIM (batch 2016-18, batch 2017-19, batch 2018-20) dedicated their mind, body and soul towards the development of PIM which led to realisation of the dreams of all connected with PIM. The establishment of Poornaprajna Centre for Research and Development and a highly knowledgeable Dr.Krishna Kothai at the helm of affairs of PCRD further strengthened PIM. The research efforts of Dr.Krishna Kothai were well utilised by PIM which included him in their faculty list as 'Professor Emeritus'.

On being requested to explain the data collection, and online mechanism being used in Poornaprajna Institute of Management, Dean of PIM, Dr. Sureshramana Mayya explained in detail about the various IT-related improvements initiated by him in PIM which helped a lot in the new system of NAAC Accreditation. The implementation of G-Suite, common institutional email id for all the students, faculty members, group email id's, the process of recording in the PIM blog, linking of the documents, Website maintenance, Website updating, up-gradation, the introduction of various features in the website, the introduction of the Google classroom, Library software, addition of e-books to the library, usage of online library resources, Geo-tagging etc. were explained in detail by Dr. Sureshramana Mayya to the audience. He emphasised that everyone irrespective of their subject area needs to be updated with the latest technology to deliver results even in educational institutions. Invention and Innovation is the need of the hour to succeed in any field said Dr. Mayya.

Thus having Right People at the Right Time in the Right Place along with the heavenly grace of the founder of the Admar Group of Institutions His Holiness Shri Shri Vibudhesha Theertha Swamiji, the blessings of the present president His Holiness Shri Shri Vishvapriya Theertha Swamiji coupled with the divine grace of ' Podevigodeya Lord Shri Krishna ' resulted in PIM getting A+ grade which is a due consideration for the sincerity and hard work of all the 'People of PIM'.

The management of PIM was extremely supportive to PIM with the Secretary of Governing council of PIM Dr.Chandrashekhar taking a lead in motivating the faculty members and non-teaching staff of PIM. Along with Dr.MR.Hegde, the founder Director of the institute, he arranged for a professional consultant Prof.Seshagiri from Bangalore to give guidance to PIM's faculty members. Dr. Chandrashekar along with Mr.Pradeep Kumar, the honourable treasurer of the institution, monitored the progress recorded by the faculty of PIM in the NAAC SSR submission process.

After explaining the efforts taken up by PIM as a collective action Dr. Bharathi Karanth explained certain aspects of filling up of criteria 5 which were adopted in PIM and answered the queries raised by the faculty members of PPC.

Dr. Naveen Kumar KR IQAC Coordinator specified that PIM has adopted F.W. Taylor's Scientific Management Principles in getting success in NAAC. The principle of Division of Labour and Specialisation, Harmony in Group Action than Discord were given prime importance by all at PIM he stated.

The staff members in charge of criteria 5 were made to present the steps taken by them in the process of completion of the work assigned to them. Mr. Athul, Assistant Professor, from the department of Physics took the lead in explaining the different aspects of criteria 5 and made a comparison with the SSR report of a college in Maharashtra which had secured 'A' grade in NAAC.

The programme ended at 1.00pm with a decision by the faculty of PPC to consult the faculty members of PIM regarding their respective criteria . In this workshop organised by PPC the faculty members of PIM acknowledged that NAAC had strengthened the bondage of PIM with its sister concerns and everybody realised that sharing of knowledge, mutual trust, respect, goodwill and collaboration than the competition has an upper hand in the ultimate goal realisation of any organisation.