A Quality Enhancement Cell (QEC) is the office every degree-awarding institution in Pakistan is required to establish under the Quality Assurance Agency of the Higher Education Commission. It plans, monitors, evaluates and regulates the quality of the institution's academic programs, and reports on quality to the institution's statutory bodies and to the HEC.
No. Responsibility for the quality of a programme rests with the department that offers it. The Directorate provides the framework, the instruments, the analysis and the follow-up — it facilitates the department in assessing itself, and verifies that findings lead to action.
Each teaching department nominates a QEC Focal Person who coordinates with the Directorate on self-assessment, survey administration, data returns and follow-up on implementation plans. Nominations are made by the Head of Department.
Published reports are available on the Reports page, organised by category — self-assessment reports, annual quality assurance reports, institutional performance evaluation, programme review, survey analysis and accreditation.
The Directorate can be reached by email at directorqec@aust.edu.pk, by telephone during office hours, or in person at the QEC office. Full details are on the Contact page.
Self-Assessment
Self-assessment is a structured review a department carries out on its own programme against the eight criteria of the HEC Self-Assessment Manual. It produces a Self-Assessment Report, which is reviewed by an Assessment Team, and an implementation plan. Programs are assessed on a defined cycle notified by the Directorate each academic year.
Programme mission, objectives and outcomes; curriculum design and organisation; laboratories and computing facilities; student support and advising; process control; faculty; institutional facilities; and institutional support.
Surveys
Yes. Individual responses are never shared with the teacher or the department. Only aggregated results are reported. Candid responses are what make the instrument useful.
Students complete Proforma 1 (course evaluation) and Proforma 10 (teacher evaluation); graduating students complete Proforma 3. Faculty complete Proforma 2 (course review), Proforma 5 (faculty survey) and Proforma 9 (faculty resume). Research students and supervisors complete Proforma 4, departments offering doctoral programs complete Proforma 6, alumni complete Proforma 7 and employers complete Proforma 8.
Accreditation
Self-assessment is internal: the department reviews itself under the HEC framework, facilitated by the Directorate. Accreditation is external: a professional council for the discipline — PEC, NCEAC, PCP, NBEAC and others — evaluates the programme against its own standards and awards or withholds accreditation.
