Mechanism of addressing Student Grievances

The institute has a formal mechanism in place for addressing all grievances pertaining to academics, admission and student life. The institute has constituted Grievance Redressal Committee (GRC) per UGC guidelines, which comprises Dean (AP) as the chairman, Dean (Students), UG and PG committee conveners and Executive Registrar as members of the GRC.
To probe into the student grievances (at an individual and class level and grievances of common interest), complaints are emailed by the student(s) and oral complaints are also redressed. In order to address student grievances pertaining to academics, the following mechanism is practiced at various levels:

• The academic processes of the institute run under the supervision of multiple committees, namely, Undergraduate Committee, Postgraduate Committee, Resource Centre Committee, ICT Committee, etc, which are governed by the faculty and senior administrative staff. Issues pertaining to academics are being resolved by UG/PG committee in consultation with Dean (AP) and Registrar’s office. The institute has a full-time Student Counselor who counsels students and advises them appropriately.
• The institute has a non-political elected Academic Committee of SBG (Student Body Government), which acts as an interface between the student community and the faculty for all academic matters. Most of the suggestions regarding academic issues (course registration, timetable, academic calendar) by students are brought to this Committee, which, after discussion and consultation, passes on the suggestions to the UG and/or PG Committee as appropriate. After the discussions in this committee, the matter is passed onto Dean (AP) for appropriate actions.
• For each course, the instructor announces the grading policy in the beginning of the semester. The grading policy details about the various components of the course and the weightage attached to each component (e.g. in-semester exam, end-semester exam, quizzes, assignments, presentations). If a student has any complaints on quizzes or assignments then he/she talks to the respective instructor and resolves the issues. If the complaint is related to in-semesters or end-semester examinations then the matter is referred to Dean (AP), who then in consultation with UG/PG convener instructs the course instructor to take needful action (e.g. make-up test, re-examination, re-checking) on the matter as appropriate.
• For any complaints related to marks or grade, the matter is referred to the course instructor. The instructor shows the answer sheet and clarifies the points wherever the student has complaints. If the matter is eligible for marks/grade improvement then the instructor submits a hardcopy form in the prescribed format for grade improvement with justification for modified grade to Dean (AP). Then, Dean (AP) checks its correctness and forwards the form to Registrar’s office and the modified grade is then reflected in the student’s grade sheet accordingly. If the grievances are unresolved, then Dean (AP) refers the matter to the Grievance Redressal Committee (GRC) of the institute, who then handle the matter.

In order to address student grievances pertaining to student life, the following mechanism is practiced at various levels:

• Minor grievance issues are handled by the elected Student Body Government (SBG). SBG consists of seven main committees – each headed by a faculty mentor, student convenor and student representatives. The student conveners and faculty mentors of various committees act as facilitators to communicate and sort out the grievances pertaining to them. These committees are – Academic, Cultural, Sports, Cafeteria Management, Hostel Management, Student Placement and Annual Festival. Issues pertaining to students life are get resolved by Dean (Students) in consultation with the Executive Registrar and faculty mentor and student mentor of various committees concerned.
• Depending on the seriousness of the problem, the issues are settled in consultation with other faculty members/hostel wardens/hostel supervisors. The collective efforts of various faculty and student coordinators resolve the complaints promptly and efficiently.

Regarding the campus life, DA-IICT has a ‘zero tolerance’ policy for ragging activities. Anti-ragging Committee and Disciplinary Action Committee (DAC), with Dean (students) as Convener, play an important role here. Senior students of undergraduate, postgraduate as well as Ph.D. help us in keeping the campus free of ragging activities.
Gender related issues are handled by a separate committee called the Gender Cell.