“If you are planning for one year, grow rice.
If you are planning for ten years, grow trees.
If you are planning
for hundred years, educate your children.”
(Confucius)
Higher Education, more than ever, has become an international service. Local, regional and national boundaries are disappearing when it comes to the supply of and the demand for higher education. Hence, quality and excellence have become the watchwords for success and fulfillment in the
educational service sector. Gone are the days an institution could just survive on its past glory, name and fame. Enthusiastic commitment to and relentless pursuit of sustenance and enhancement of Quality has become the benchmark for any educational institution that desires to successfully realize its objectives and to provide satisfaction to its
stakeholders. The book “Best Practices in Higher Education” is a report of the National Conference on the same topic organized by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), India. The book is a mine of insights, theoretical analysis and practical applications of the parameters of quality. The case studies distilled from reputed institutes of higher learning in India provide convincing proofs as to the viability and success of such ‘best practices’.
In the initial pages, the book introduces the concept of benchmarking and the seven parameters of quality in education, which the NAAC has adopted for the assessment of institutes of higher learning. These parameters are: Curricular Aspects; Teaching-Learning and Evaluation; Research, Consultancy & Extension; Infrastructure & Learning Resources; Student Support and Progression; Organization and Management; and Healthy Practices. The book then proceeds to enlighten the reader as to how to adopt best practices benchmarking in each of the first six parameters of quality. The book is indeed, a resource tool for all the stakeholders in education: the educational institutions can implement the insights of the book, and the other stakeholders, being well-informed by the book, may demand such implementations.