The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has made a policy decision to direct all Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) to establish Quality Enhancement Cells (QEC). It has also issued Guidelines for the establishment and monitoring of QECs.
Maintaining the momentum of quality consciousness is crucial in HEIs. Quality Enhancement Cell, an internal quality assurance mechanism of the institution, is conceived as a mechanism to build and ensure a quality culture at the institutional level. Every HEI should have an quality assurance system, with appropriate structure and processes, and with enough flexibility to meet the diverse needs of the stakeholders. The QEC is meant for planning, guiding and monitoring Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Enhancement (QE) activities of the Institute. The QEC may channelise and systematize the efforts and measures of an institution towards academic excellence. It should not be yet another hierarchical structure or record-keeping exercise in the institution; it would be a facilitative and participative organ of the institution. The QEC should become a driving force for ushering in quality by working out intervention strategies to remove deficiencies and enhance quality.
At University of Chitral, The Quality Enhancement Cell was established in July 2017. Since then, the cell has been working effectively not only to enhance quality but also continuously improve on it.