Assessment Report on

 Institutional Accreditation of

Shree Damodar College Of Commerce & Economics

 Margao, Goa

 

Section 1: Preface

Shree Damodar College of Commerce & Economics was started in 1973 by Vidya Vikas Mandal and was initially affiliated to Bombay University.  After the establishment of Goa University in 1986 the college has come under the Goa University.   The College is recognised by the U.G.C. under Sections 2f and 12B of the UGC Act.

 

The College volunteered to be assessed by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC)  and submitted the self-study report in 1998.  NAAC constituted the Peer Team  to visit the College on 25th & 26th of August 1999 to validate  the self-study report. The Team Members were Prof. M Muniyamma former Vice-Chancellor of Gulbarga University, Karnataka & Dr. S. Ramachandran, former Dean, CDC, Madurai, Kamaraj University.  Dr. Latha Pillai, Deputy Adviser and Mr. B. S.  Madhukar, Asst. Adviser, NAAC, ably co-ordinated and supported the team visit.

 

The Peer Team analysed the self-study report submitted by the institution.  During the visit, it went through all the relevant documents, interacted with the Principal, faculty, the Management, students, administrative staff & parents and visited various facilities like the library, curricular, co-curricular, extra-curricular & sports infrastructure of the institution.

 

It is worth mentioning here that the Management has expressed their sincere desire to nurture the college to the heights of excellence and that efforts are being  made in this direction. Recently, the Management has acquired 13,000sq.mts. of land behind the existing complex.  It is also the desire of the Management to provide access to higher education to students from lower middle class with average marks and they improve their capabilities.

 

Based on the whole exercise, the Peer Team has given its objective assessment in the following pages, keeping in mind the criteria identified by NAAC.

 

Section 2: Criterion-wise Analysis

 

Criterion I: Curricular Aspects

The College offers two under-graduate programmes.  One is the conventional B.Com and the other a self-financed innovative Bachelor Degree in computer application in commerce, BCA(C). Students who join the conventional B.Com degree course have an option to choose from among 4 optional subjects namely, financial accounting, auditing & taxation, cost accounting & management accounting, business management and banking & finance. In addition, the college also offers a vocational subject namely advertisement, sales management & sales marketing with UGC assistance. The BCA ( C)  programme is designed by the college with feedback obtained from the industry. Following the introduction of this new course, it is felt that the college will be able to train students who may be gainfully employed.   Some of the teachers of the college have been members of the various academic bodies of the university like the board of studies, Academic Council and the Court.

 

Criterion II: Teaching-learning and Evaluation

Teaching, learning and Evaluation are carried on satisfactorily.  Out of 31  teachers, 14 are permanent and 17 temporary.  There are five teachers with M.Phil. degree and others with  Master’s degree.

 

The adoption of the teaching plan by individual teachers and the unitisation of  the syllabus has made the teaching learning process  effective. Further, the functioning of a Monitoring Committee in the college to ensures actual implementation of the daily time-table enables prevention of loss of lecture classes. The performance of the students in the University Examinations has been good.

 

The college may adopt new teaching methodologies for more effective teaching-learning processes. The faculty may be encouraged/motivated to avail  themselves of the  benefits   of  the Faculty improvement Programmes of the UGC.

 

Individual attention is given to students in their academic pursuit.  Sometimes remedial courses are offered to the weak students.  Quiz and tests are regularly conducted to assess student performance.  In addition to the teaching work, most of the teachers share among themselves the co-curricular activities. 

 

The two term-end examinations per year are conducted by the College for the first and second year courses.  However, the question paper for these examinations are set by the university.  The evaluation is found to be satisfactory and fair.  At the end of the third year, the final examination is conducted by the university.

 

The appointment of teachers is made as per the norms of the university.  Teachers follow self-appraisal every year.  The college deputes the faculty to attend seminars/workshops as and when the need arises.

 

Criterion III: Research, Consultancy & Extension

The college is yet to put in significant research work. There is only one instance of a Lecturer in economics having undertaken a Minor Research Project and another Lecturer in mathematics having  co-authored a text book.

 

Project work forms part of the curriculum in the third year degree course.  Teachers offer guidance to individual students or group of students not exceeding ten.  Some of the project reports are good.  It will be in the general interest of the college and its obligations to society, if the research culture is adequately developed among teachers. Same is the case with regard to consultancy. In respect of extension activities and outreach programmes, the participation of the college was found to be satisfactory.  The NSS unit of the college has been engaging itself in community development, Malaria eradication programme, AIDS awareness campaign and literacy programme.  The college may consider better utilisation of the student potential in further extension activities.

 

Criterion IV: Infrastructure & Learning Resources

The infrastructure facilities provided by the college are satisfactory. Keeping pace with the growing modern technology, internet facility, a modern component of information   technology, may  be made available to staff and students. Extending the library hours will be to the  greater advantage of students particularly, during examination time. So also, the college should consider open access of library to students.   Reprographic facilities in the library should be made available to students and teachers.    Computerisation and automation of the library  may be considered. A multipurpose hall is available for indoor games.

 

Performance of students in sports and games has been good.  They have been taking part in many sports activities at the university and state levels and won many laurels for the college.  To mention a few, during 1998-99 the college Lawn Tennis team has won the championship for the fifth consecutive year.  During 1999-2000, the women table tennis team of the college has become the champion at the inter-collegiate table tennis tournament.

 

Criterion V:  Student Support and Progression

Students are admitted to the college as per university norms.  Some of the students who have passed out of this college hold many eminent positions.  An Alumni Association  is being started. The college encourages students participation in various co-curricular activities which develop leadership qualities and promote self-confidence.  The various  fora that function in the college are the Students’ Cultural Union, Study Circle and the Gymkhana.  The college has also one unit of the NCC Army Wing, one unit of the Naval Wing and one NSS Unit. It has now started a ‘need based’  and  ‘job oriented’  course.  It may consider providing a placement centre for the benefit of students.

 

Criterion VI: Organisation and Management

There appears to be good co-ordination among the management, faculty, administrative staff and students.  The academic atmosphere in the campus is good. In addition to the grants received from the government and the UGC, the Management is found to be capable of mobilising resources for the development of the college.

 

The administrative staff have been given training in computers for professional development.  This  training would go a long way to improve their work culture and efficiency .

 

Criterion VII: Healthy Practices

The college has to its credit BCA (C), a self-financing and need based course. The usefulness of the course may be fully realised if further industrial linkage could be developed.  The college also serves as one  of the two centres in the whole of Goa for the distance education programme of IGNOU.

 

Efforts are being made to organise workshops/seminars on various topics like “Achievement Motivation” in the context of career planning, “Leadership & Personality development”, and opportunities and satisfaction in full time social work and such other topics.

 

Section 3:  Overall Analysis

 Shree Damodar College is Government aided and a First Grade College.  There are about 800 students in regular graduate programmes.  It assists the  IGNOU in their  programmes with an enrolment of about 800 students. The college maintains a reputation for  providing good  education through its curricular, co-curricular and extra-curricular activities.

 

The Peer Team would like to make the following commendations  and suggestions:

 

Commendations:

1.     For conceptualising and designing the curriculum for BCA-C a self-financing degree programme.

2.     The commitment of teachers and the discipline of students.

3.     The achievement of the college in sports and games.

4.     The institution of the ‘best teacher award’ by the Management.

 

Suggestions:

1.     It is recorded that “our greatest limitation is that we share the premises with the Higher Secondary and hence suffer from the constraints of not being able to spend additional time on the campus”. The team concurs with the observation made and recommends corrective measures.

2.     Parallel efforts to take note of trends in socio-economic fields to initiate new and relevant courses and use modern trends in education .

3.     In transacting the curriculum, modern educational technology & multi-media facilities could be used.

4.     The college has scope for introducing a few job oriented diploma courses in emerging areas such as Tourism Management, Foreign Trade etc. in consultation with business and service sections and industry.

5.     Research should be promoted by encouraging and motivating teachers to be better-qualified and utilize UGC’s FIP Programmes.

6.     The culture of consultancy has to take roots in the institution.

7.     The library needs to have access to Internet & INFLIBNET, E-Mail, CAL packages, etc.  It will be of immense help to students and teaching faculty, if arrangements could be made to keep open the library for a few more hours.  It would be worthwhile to separate the library from the Higher Secondary section to provide a congenial and better atmosphere for both  students and teaching faculty.

8.     A student feedback mechanism may be introduced for improving quality of teaching-learning processes.

9.     Setting up a formal Placement Cell, a Counseling Centre and a formalised Grievance Redressal mechanism for faculty and staff would be progressive steps

10. Optimum utilisation of the initiative and the potential of the teaching and non-teaching staff  would facilitate  a  more vibrant environment.

 

 

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