93.International Liaison and Academic Quality Management

It was  the  Director-in-Charge who appointed  me as  Dean (PG Studies  & Research) and when the  full time  Director   took charge  I had   two more years  in the  three-year term which I was allowed  to  complete. During those   two years, with  the cooperation of the  director,  a few things could be done as already  indicated. While  I was Dean, I was  just  taking  one course which was   a great relief for me  even in those   days  I was  too busy with administrative work. I was still  enjoying my teaching  work and hopefully majority  of my students  too. As  the term was  coming to an end, I was  happy  to return to my department  to continue my teaching work and  do something  possible research which I could  not do much  during these  three  years  sitting  in the  administrative  block. Then one of those days, a messenger from the  director  came to me and asked  me whether I am interested in taking charge as  the Dean Planning & Development.  I told him I was  not interested as I was  not at all  keen to swim in unfamiliar   waters. Moreover, as already  indicated, Dean ( P&D)  was the person  critical in spending  the   grants available  for  infrastructure  development  which  I found as CVO   could make  one’s hand dirty. Anyway, as the  person who  was Dean(UG)   gladly  took up this job, this did not come as formal offer from the  boss.  

As  I was  the  senior most professor at  that time, I was  acting as Director in charge whenever   the  director was  away.  On a few  occasions when there was  some serious  difference of opinion between some of the Deans and Director, I had   also  played the role of a fire-fighter  on his request. Probably because  of these  reasons, he  must have  thought  that  I can be  useful  if I am  retained  in the  administrative  block. So, he  asked  me in what role  I can continue. At that time,  NITC   had about 20 or more students from abroad  mostly  from  South Asian countries (SAARC)  and from a few  African countries.  It was  thought  that   it will  be good if a senior professor  is available to help them in their admission,  visa  renewal and other  official matters. It was  also desirable to  have  one to communicate with  the central  government   departments like  Indian Council  for Cultural Relations(ICCR). So  I suggested   that  one possibility is to  put me as  International Liaison  Officer of the  college. However, I found that   the  work involved  is very little. Therefore, I   told him further that  I have  some unfinished  work as Dean which I wanted to do  such as  academic audit. So, I thought   I can add another work  as Coordinator Academic Quality  Management  Initiatives. Director  gladly  agreed  to the  idea and  created  a  new  position  in the  administrative   set up  as  International Liaison Officer and Coordinator Academic Quality  Management.( the name  of the post was  suggested  by me, but  he approved  it graciously). He  got the approval from the  Board  of Governors  to   declare  this  newly created  post as  equivalent to that  of a Dean and he was  kind enough to  sanction  an additional allowance  equivalent to that of Dean.  I was  given an office  room in the administrative   block and  one assistant was allotted to help me in office work, even though I did  not need  such an assistance as  most of my official letters were being  compiled and typed  by me directly  using PC. I    started  doing this   work in addition to the  departmental work allotted to me.

First, I called a meeting of the  foreign students  admitted to the college and individually checked up whether they have  any difficulties  in their  academic  pursuits , accommodation, food and other  living conditions. I promised them that they can approach me any time  if they have any problem and I will try my best to solve   them with  the advice from the  director and other  administrative officers of the college.    The students  were mostly  from SAARC  countries. If I  remember correct, there were ten students  from  Sri Lanka, three students  from Nepal, one from Sikkim and  one student from Kenya and one from Ethiopia. When they  are  admitted, the local police had to be informed with a copy of their passport and visa and they had  to  issued permission  to leave  the country and re-enter  when they are  eligible to take holidays  for going home.

Indian Council for Cultural Relations- ICCR  was an autonomous body  under Ministry of External affairs  and we  started  some correspondence  with  the representative of the organization with his office  in Thiruvananthapuram for  participating in cultural affairs. This  officer  had conducted a meeting  in Calicut University where  quite a few  students  from Afghanistan had been were admitted as a part of the  agreement signed between our Prime Minister with  Afghan President after the  power from Taliban was  taken over. Along with our foreign students, we attended  the  meeting and got acquainted  with the  students   from Afghanistan. As a part of the  one-day workshop  held at Calicut  university, I presented   my views  on how one should behave  in a foreign country and familiarise themselves with the customs and traditions  of the  foreign soil  as early as possible. My pleasant  experience  in Singapore and Turkey proved  very handy   for this interaction  with  the foreign students in the group. There  was a cultural programme  organised  by ICCR  in the  Calicut city  in which all our students participated. As  Coordinator  Academic Quality  Management, my effort was mainly   to  develop the  format for Academic Audit  which we  had done  at the end of a two-day workshop on the  same as  mentioned  in the last episode. However,  ice water  was thrown  on these  efforts   because  of the ego of a few heads of departments who  thought  there  is  none better than themselves in the most unacademic manner and the  director’s  lukewarm attitude   to the whole   effort in spite of his high voltage enthusiasm in the beginning.