THE PROCESS OF EVALUATION OF THE ACADEMIC COURSES AND FORMATION OF BOARD OF STUDIES

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THE PROCESS OF EVALUATION OF THE

ACADEMIC COURSES AND FORMATION OF

BOARD OF STUDIES

Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum

Thiruvanathapuram, Kerala, India – 695 011

Version II 2014

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1. Background

Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum (SCTIMST) is an Institute of National Importance under the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. The SCTIMST is a University that offers diverse postgraduate courses in Cardiac and Neurosciences, Allied Sciences, Health Sciences and Biomedical Technology and Clinical Engineering. With the introduction of several new academic courses, explosion of new knowledge in various specialties, emergence of new specialties and evolution of newer methods of training and evaluation of students, it has become necessary for the Institute to constitute a Board of Studies (BOS) to oversee the academic courses offered by the Hospital Wing, Biomedical Technology (BMT) Wing and the Achutha Menon Center for Health Science Studies (AMCHSS). With this objective, the Director, SCTIMST organized a meeting with the Dean, Associate Deans, Registrar and Deputy Registrar and an experienced external expert Dr. Achuthsankar S. Nair, Center of Bioinformatics, University of Kerala, on May, 22, 2010. In this meeting, the need to constitute BOS and its modus operandi were discussed. The Academic Committee Meeting dated July 3, 2010 approved the constitution of BOS.

This document describes the process of evaluation of an academic proposal and the composition and function of the BOS. From now on, all the proposals for a change in an existing academic course (including change in syllabus, increase in number of seats, method of selection and evaluation, etc) and for evolving new courses should initially be submitted to the BOS.

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2. Origin of the Proposal

a) The proposals for starting new academic courses or revising the existing ones shall be evolved after a collective and detailed discussion within individual Departments/Divisions.

b) The Heads of Departments/Divisions shall ensure that such proposals are discussed thoroughly in the departmental meeting, and input obtained from the faculty members of the department/division before forwarding to BOS for consideration.

c) The proposals shall be in tune with the mandate of the institute to offer highest quality of advanced postgraduate training and research, and taking into consideration requirement of trained human resource at regional, national and global scenario, and the employability.

d) The Head of the Department/Division, who shall certify that the proposal has been discussed and approved in the meeting of the Department/Division, shall forward the proposal.

e) Proposals submitted by individual faculty members for starting/revising academic courses should not be considered by BOS.

f) The forwarding letter of joint proposals involving two or more Departments/Divisions shall bear the signatures of all the Heads of Departments/Divisions involved.

3. Process of Evaluation

a)

The proposals for starting new academic courses or revising the existing ones shall first be submitted by the Departments/Divisions to the Chairman of the

individual BOS, as described below (see item 4.1).

b) The BOS after evaluation shall forward eligible proposals to Dean’s Committee comprising Dean and Associate Deans and chaired by the Director.

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c) The Dean’s Committee shall review the proposal in relation to its feasibility, adherence to requirements for recognition and fulfillment of mandate of the Institute, and shall suggest modifications, if necessary, before recommending it for submission for inclusion in the agenda for the Institute Academic Committee meeting.

The process of evaluation of an academic course proposal is further illustrated in the Figure below.

4. Composition of BOS

4.1. Individual Boards

There shall be a BOS attached to each of the following groups of specialties:

a) BOS for Cardiac Sciences: This board shall cover the academic courses offered by the Departments/Divisions of Cardiology, Cardiac Surgery, Cardiac Anesthesia, and Cardiac Nursing

b) BOS for Neurosciences: This board shall cover the academic courses offered by the Departments/Divisions of Neurology, Neurosurgery, Anesthesia, Imaging Sciences and Interventional Radiology, and Neuro-Nursing

c) BOS for Life Sciences: This board shall cover the academic courses offered by the Departments of Pathology, Cellular and Molecular Cardiology, Microbiology, Biochemistry, Transfusion Medicine, and Medical Record Science

d) BOS for Biomedical Technology and Clinical Engineering, including off-campus courses

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4.2. Members of BOS

Each Board shall consist of:

a) Chairman nominated by the Director.

b) Not less than four and not more than eight Members from the Institute

nominated by the Director.

c) One External Member to be nominated by the Chairman of Board and approved by the Director.

d) One Student Member nominated by Student Forum and approved by the Director. The student member shall participate in discussions related to curriculum development and specific issues related to students, but will not have any voting power.

e) Invited External Expert(s), as and when required recommended by the Chairman of the Board and approved by the Director.

f) Convener of the Boards for Hospital Wing shall be the Registrar, and the convener for both the BMT Wing and AMCHSS shall be the Deputy Registrar.

4.3. Qualifications of Chairman and Members

a) For being nominated as a Chairman of BOS, an academic staff should be the cadre of Professor or Engineer/Scientist G

b) For being nominated as a Member of BOS, an academic staff should have the cadre of not less than Associate Professor or Engineer/Scientist E

c) Each Board shall have a mixture of senior and junior academic staff.

4.4. Reconstitution of BOS

a) The Director shall reconstitute the BOS once in three years. Generally, no academic staff shall be nominated to a BOS for more than two terms consecutively. However, the Director shall have the power to waive this rule in exceptional cases.

b) In the case of proven misconduct on the part of any Member or Chairman of BOS, the Director shall have the power to remove a person from the BOS giving him/her a reasonable opportunity to submit his/her explanation.

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5. Meeting of BOS

a) The BOS shall ordinarily meet twice in a year; but the Director may ask additional meetings to be held when necessary.

b) The meetings of the BOS shall be convened by the Registrar/Deputy Registrar, who should circulate the agenda for the meeting not less than one week before the date of the meeting.

c) The Chairman of a BOS shall preside at the meeting of individual Boards. d) When a joint meeting of two or more BOSs is held, the Dean shall chair the

joint meeting

e) To complete the quorum, 50% of the total number of members or the lower number to which it is rounded up should be present.

f) The Convener shall record the minutes of every meeting.

g) The Chairman of the meeting shall send to the Dean a copy of the minutes circulated and approved by the members within ten days after the date of the meeting. The Dean shall forward it to Director for final approval.

6. Duties of BOS

The BOS shall consider and report any academic matter referred to it by Director, Academic Committee, Dean’s Committee, and Heads of Departments concerning new academic courses, revision of existing courses, selection examinations, and student evaluation:

a) It shall be the duty of BOS to initiate steps to revise the syllabus and structure of a postgraduate course in tune with the mandate of the institute to offer highest quality advanced training and research.

b) It shall be duty of BOS to ensure that courses for each postgraduate program are designed to enhance knowledge, skills and attitude of the learner, and allow them to utilize the opportunities available in the institute including those for research and innovation.

c) It shall be the duty of BOS to incorporate advances in knowledge and developments in the concerned fields in the curriculum.

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d) It shall be the duty of BOS to recommend new courses and develop course curriculum for the same.

e) It shall be the duty of BOS to ensure that the academic courses meet the criteria for recognition by the specific registering body.

f) It shall be the duty of BOS to evaluate the courses to ensure that high standards of training are offered and to make recommendations for enhancing the quality of training and adequacy of exposure to research/ innovation during the training period.

g) It shall be duty of BOS to ensure that progress of training is periodically evaluated in a maximally objective manner, and to formulate the mechanisms of such evaluations.

h) It shall be duty of BOS to prepare the BOS Document for the Institute and review/revise it every 3 years.

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Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute For Medical Sciences & Technology, Trivandrum

Thiruvananthapuram - 695 011, Kerala, India.

An Institute of National Importance under Government of India with the status of University established by an Act of Parliament (No.52 of 1980)

I. BOARD OF STUDIES FOR CARDIAC SCIENCES

COMPOSITION OF THE BOARD OF STUDIES

Chairman:

Dr. Ajit Kumar V. K.

Professor, Department of Cardiology, SCTIMST

Members:

1. Dr. Surinder Agarwal

Head, Department of Cardiac Surgery, SGPGI, Lucknow.

2. Dr.Prasantakumar Dash

Professor, Department of Anaesthesiology, SCTIMST

3. Dr. T.R. Kapilamoorthy

Professor, Department of Imaging Sciences & Intervention Radiology, SCTIMST

4. Dr. Harikrishnan S.

Additional Professor, Department of Cardiology, SCTIMST

5. Dr. Baiju S.Dharan

Associate Professor, Department of Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgery, SCTIMST

6. Dr. Sudhamani Amma S.

Nursing Officer – A, SCTIMST

7. Dr. Mahim Saran (Student Representative)

Senior Resident, Department of Cardiology, SCTIMST Convener : Registrar, SCTIMST

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II. BOARD OF STUDIES FOR LIFE SCIENCES

Chairperson:

Dr. Sandhyamani S.

Professor & Head, Department of Pathology, SCTIMST

Members:

1. Prof. Vani Santosh

Professor of Neuropathology, NIMHANS, Bangalore.

2. Mr. Koruthu P. Varughese

Engineer 'G' & Head, Division of Clinical Engineering, SCTIMST

3. Dr. Kavita Raja

Professor & Head, Department of Microbiology, SCTIMST

4. Dr. Jayakumari N.

Professor, Department of Biochemistry, SCTIMST

5. Dr.Debasish Gupta

Professor, Department of Transfusion Medicine, SCTIMST

6. Dr. Lissy K. Krishnan

Scientist 'G', Division of Thrombosis Research Unit, Biomedical Technology Wing, SCTIMST

7. Ms. Mereena George U. (Student Representative)

Senior Resident, Department of Cellular & Molecular Cardiology , SCTIMST

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III. BOARD OF STUDIES FOR NEURO SCIENCES

Chairperson:

Dr. Asha Kishore

Professor, Department of Neurology, SCTIMST

Members:

1. Dr.G.S.Uma Maheswara Rao

Senior Professor, NIMHANS, BANGALORE

2. Dr. Kesavadas C.

Professor, Department of Imaging Sciences & Intervention Radiology, SCTIMST

3. Dr. Abraham Kuruvilla

Professor, Department of Neurology, SCTIMST

4. Dr. Manikandan S.

Additional Professor, Department of Anaesthesiology, SCTIMST

5. Dr.Mathew Abraham

Associate Professor, Department of Neurosurgery, SCTIMST

6. Dr. Saramma P.P.

Senior Lecturer in Nursing, SCTIMST

7. Dr. Joseph Samuel P.(Student Representative)

Senior Resident, Department of Neurology, SCTIMST

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IV. BOARD OF STUDIES FOR BIOMEDICAL TECHNOLOGY AND CLINICAL ENGINEERING

Chairman:

Shri. Nagesh D. S.

Scientist 'G', Division of Modelling & Prototyping Lab, Biomedical Technology Wing, SCTIMST

Members:

1. Dr. Suresh Devasahayam

Head, Department of Bio-engineering, Christian Medical College, Vellore

2. Dr.Srinivasan K.

Scientist ‘G’, Polymer Analysis Lab, BMT Wing, SCTIMST

3. Dr. Manoj N.

Associate Professor, Department of Biotechnology, IIT Madras

4. Mr. Koruthu P. Varughese

Engineer 'G' & Head, Division of Clinical Engineering, SCTIMST

5. Dr. Roy Joseph

Scientist 'F', Division of Polymer Processing, Biomedical Technology Wing, SCTIMST

6. Shri. Balram S.

Scientist 'F', Technology Business Division, Biomedical Technology Wing, SCTIMST

7. Dr. Mohanan P. V.

Scientist 'F', Toxicology Division, Biomedical Technology Wing, SCTIMST

8. Dr. Umashankar P. R.

Scientist 'F', Division of In-Vivo Models and Testing, Biomedical Technology Wing, SCTIMST

9. Dr. Manoj Komath

Scientist 'F', Bioceramic Laboratory, Biomedical Technology Wing, SCTIMST

10. Ms. Rakhi A. (Student Representative)

PhD Scholar, SCTIMST

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V. BOARD OF STUDIES FOR HEALTH SCIENCES Chairperson:

Dr. Sundari Ravindran T.K.

Professor, Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science Studies (AMCHSS), SCTIMST

Members:

1. Dr. Shantidani Minz

Officer in charge, MPH Programme , Professor of Community Health & Coordinator,

CMC Vellore

2. Dr. Manoj Murhekar

Officer in charge, Off Campus MPH Course & Scientist F, National Institute of Epidemiology (NIE), Chennai

3. Dr.Thankappan K.R.

Professor & Head, Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science Studies (AMCHSS), SCTIMST

4. Dr. Raman Kutty V.

Professor, Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science Studies (AMCHSS), SCTIMST

5. Dr. Biju Soman

Additional Professor, AMCHSS, SCTIMST

6. Dr. Shabna D. S.(Student Representative)

MPH Student, SCTIMST

Convener : Deputy Registrar, SCTIMST