Amrita Internal Quality Assurance Cell (Amrita IQAC)

Amrita has substantive breadth and depth in its course offerings with a broad range of interdisciplinary offerings. There are 182 programs spanning Engineering, Sciences, Health Sciences, Arts, Humanities, Ayurveda, Life Sciences and Business. The following are innovative practices in curricular aspects:

• Outcomes-based education (OBE) across disciplines in accordance with statutory regulations. Amrita’s in-house AMPLE system quantifies the attainment of POs, PSOs, and COs in each course offering.
• Program outcomes designed so that students develop critical thinking, communicate effectively, and become engaged citizens.
• Curriculum revised regularly with a focus on the quality and relevancy of the content. More than 90% of the courses have been revised in the last five years.
• Amrita’s curricula demonstrates relevance to local, state, and national priorities, as evidenced by their successful linking with Digital India, NMEICT, National Mission on Health, National Mission on Water, Unnat Bharat Abhiyan, Kerala Biotechnology Mission, Make-in-India, Skill India.
• Amrita curricula allows flexibility in course structure, choice-based credits for value-add courses, project-based courses, and internships in industry and national labs. Choice Based Credit System (CBCS)/elective course system implemented in 100% of the programs.
• Interdisciplinary curricula, such as, nanomedicine, biomedical engineering, cybersecurity, data sciences. More than 2000 new courses introduced to keep up with rapid advances.
• More than 85% of the courses have components which enhance employability, entrepreneurship and skills for industry readiness. Over 15000 students take advantage of internship opportunities in industries, research labs and international institutions.
• Close to 400 value added courses including yoga and meditation are offered benefiting over 60% of students.

Faculty at Amrita are highly qualified and come with international training from countries all around the globe. Amrita exemplies committment towards students with all learning capabilities, tailoring the courses so that no student is left behind.

• Professors, Associate Professors, Assistant Professors numbering 1392 with 1021 holding Ph.D.s, DM, M.Ch., MD, and MS. Average teaching experience an impressive 8 years.
• 10 prestigious highly selective national science and technology awards.
• The faculty-student ratio is 1:14 and an average of one mentor for every 14 students.
• Slow learners strengthened through remedial classes, tutorials, and bridge courses.
• Advanced learners given the opportunity to fast track through honors courses, research projects.
• Every program enhanced with problem based, hands-on student-centric methodologies.
• Learning pathways provided wherein students of one discipline spend time in another, expanding their horizons.
• Experiential learning is emphasized through live-in-labs, projects and other field works as well as translation of research findings to products.
• Credits assigned for Internships in academic, industrial, or social projects for students with the top 500 ranked universities. In the Semester abroad internship, students spend a semester at a partner university to gain project-based research experience.
• Utilizes several ICT-enabled tools, such as AUMS, A-View, AMPLE, Virtual Labs, OLABS, etc. to enhance the teaching and learning process.
• The Course Articulation Matrix (CAM) plays a pivotal role in quantitatively mapping individual course outcomes to both the program specific outcomes and program outcomes. The examinations system incorporates continuous evaluation and with the help of automation, results are provided within ten days.

As a result of the above initiatives, the pass percentage of students is 95% and the demand ratio for the last five years has risen to an impressive 8.0.

Amrita exemplifies interdisciplinary research, and research that translate to societal benefit to help build a sustainable world. This commitment has helped Amrita raise substantial funds. As evidenced below this has brought recognition and success to its research activities.

• 25 Crores seed money to 450 faculty.
• 100 faculty awarded international research fellowships.
• 1000 students awarded JRF/SRF.
• 50% of all departments received infrastructural support from GoI.
• 825 projects with extramural funding of 155 Crores.
• 5037 books/book chapters, 6,000 papers and 20,000 citations
• Centres of Excellence:
  • Amrita Centre for Nanosciences and Molecular Medicine pioneered innovative biomedical and energy products.
  • Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences [AIMS] performed the World’s First male to female upper arm transplant, 584 liver and 148 cornea transplants.
  • The Amrita School of Biotechnology designed prototype of a low cost insulin pump and non- enzymatic glucose sensor.
  • The Centre for Wireless Networks and Applications pioneered wireless sensor development for monitoring and early warning of disasters, as well as OceanNet, to send warning messages to fishing vessels.
  • The Centre for Cybersecurity supports National Defence and Security related to mobile networks, cyber-physical systems, IoT, cloud based applications.
  • The Centres of Digital Learning (AMMACHI Lab, CREATE Lab & A-VIEW Lab) developed digital learning technologies and analytics for education.
• 747 Ph.D./DM/MCh/MD/MS/MDS/DNB degrees awarded.
• 428 awards and recognitions for research and innovations.
• The Technology Business Incubator (TBI) has incubated 150 startups.
• 158 Worldwide Patents published or awarded
• Industry Collaborations: Collaborative centers with 10 major industry leaders. 900 lakhs of consulting support.
• 1402 extension activities involving 100% of our students.
• 400 collaborative initiatives and 150 functional MoUs with reputed international institutions.
  • UNESCO Chair on Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment.
  • First UN-Academic University conference was held with Amrita in 2016.

At Amrita, the delivery of teaching-learning is facilitated by the development and establishment of world-class facilities integrated with digital technologies, including well-furnished classrooms, state-of-the-art laboratories and ubiquitous computing facilities, as well as excellent sports and recreational facilities.

Amrita campuses are a result of meticulous planning and execution:

• Over 500 classrooms, of which about 300 cater to undergraduate programs and 200 cater to postgraduate and specialized interdisciplinary programs.
• 100% are ICT and WiFi enabled, most of the classrooms are equipped with multimedia presentation facilities that enable lecture capturing.
• Over 6,000 computers for academia and bandwidth exceeding 1 GBPs with a Campus-wide network that has over 1,500 WiFi points.
• 17 auditoriums, numerous conference rooms and meeting rooms.
• 300 teaching and research labs in various disciplines including Manufacturing, Maker, Computational, Robotics, Biotechnology, Wireless, Medical and Technology Business Incubator.
• Our medical research labs include Da Vinci surgical robotic system, Rosa, Mako robotic-arm assisted technologies. The radiology department has Cyberknife, Tomography facilities. Medical students can view 3D, 4D images using GE VOLUSON E10 4D ultrasound system.
• Central library in each campus houses barcoded books, printed journals, periodicals and scholarly reference materials.
• Keeping the objective of Free Open Knowledge for all in mind, the Online Library systems are designed to provide access for everyone. Complete automation is achieved using the Integrated Library Management System (ILMS) and the OPAC
• One of Amrita’s core goals is to provide an environment for the integral development of body, mind and spirit; to enhance, develop and nurture skills in sports, cultural and performing arts that showcase inherent talent and artistic expression. Towards this end, Amrita provides excellent facilities as follows: Over 200 outdoor and indoor sports facilities including: Complexes, Play Grounds, Jogging Tracks, 15 KM Nature trail for walking, Gymnasiums and Swimming pools.
• Centers for Student Needs: Banking, Photocopy, General stores, Medical, Laundry, Parks, Student activity clubs.
• Centralized Kitchen and Canteen cater to dining requirements for about 20,000 faculty, staff and students. Hostels and Faculty/Staff Residences are provided.

Amrita values students as its most important stakeholder, and the future wealth of our society, Amrita mentors, supports and encourages all students to reach their highest potential through various schemes as identified below.

• Amrita’s Chancellor’s Fellowship is a prestigious scheme to reward outstanding students from India to pursue Ph.D. programs under collaboration between Amrita and top 500 ranked international universities.
• Prestigious scholarships such as Visvesvaraya at the National level and Erasmus Mundus at the International level have been provided to students.
• A total of 87% of the students receive some form of scholarship/freeship.
• Over 80% of students are directly benefited from our Institution’s career counselling, guidance and skills enhancement program.
• More than 1200 students have progressed successfully to higher studies and careers through competitive examinations, and more than 60% of all students have been placed immediately after graduation through University placement services.
• Amrita provides facilities that enhance, develop and nurture skills in sports, cultural and performing arts. Amrita organizes over 100 events annually and in national level competitions - our students have won over 200 medals for outstanding sports and cultural performance.
• Amrita University gives emphasis on student representation. Class representatives attend class committee meetings and give feedback regarding teaching and academics. Students are also active participants and leaders in several academic and extracurricular activities committees and clubs
• Amrita has a zero tolerance policy for dealing with sexual harassment and ragging cases, and has timely online mechanisms for rapid redressal of grievances.
• With financial contribution of over one crore, alumni provide input on industry needs, academics, and the university also help alumni in their higher studies and job growth through contacts, recommendations and guidance. Over 11000 alumni are registered, and every year several meets are conducted for the alumni living in India and abroad.

Leading the academic and administrative governance is world renowned humanitarian leader Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (AMMA). Amma has been a relentless supporter of education, innovation and research towards upliftment of society.

The University’s Governing Body which is the Board of Management (BoM) steers the policies and practices of the University to strongly promote Education for Life for students of all disciplines. The governance empasizes decentralized decision-making at all levels of the university to encourage empowerment through participation in governance.

• The University has institutionalized governance structures that provide numerous opportunities for faculty to propose and obtain funding for research that are beneficial to society. The Academic Council also includes highly qualified and accomplished academicians and professionals from some of the most eminent Universities around the world.
• The selection and promotion process for academicians and administrators at all levels of seniority considers their commitment towards imparting core human values along with excellence in research.
• Amrita has developed an innovative Faculty Performance Evaluation Module “FRAP” called AMPLE. About 100 faculty earn incentives every year for their year round achievements.
• University encourages its faculty to attend professional research conferences and workshops. More than 65% of faculty are provided financial assistance for this purpose. Majority of faculty are also supported to attend FDPs.
• Amrita adopts multi-pronged strategies for mobilization of funds and optimal utilization of resources, such as, trimming overheads through improved management and administrative systems, use of digital technologies, fee-based utilization of state-of-the-art equipment, royalties from licensing of Intellectual Property through Patents and Technology Transfer to startups and corporates.
• Comprehensive and audited performance data is shared through annual reports and newsletters uploaded on the web to stakeholders and global citizens. The fee structure, admission policies and procedures, and academic and administrative policies are also shared via the web portal and handbooks.

Amrita's emphasis on value-based education is its foundational core and every student is exposed to the fundamental principle of values as a defining part of success in all spheres of activity in this world. Amrita’s Institutional Values and Best Practices can be summarized as follows:

• Amrita emphasizes education for life. About 400 value added courses emphasize transferable and life skills.
• Amrita has a code of conduct that promotes freedom with responsibility for all members of the university community
• Tolerance, cultural awareness and community service is encouraged with the spirit of inclusiveness.
• Amrita’s leadership in women’s empowerment and gender equality through training, special programs and outreach have been recognized across the world and by International agencies like UNESCO.
• Environmental sustainability initiatives include solar energy installations, nanosolar research, biogas units, LED lighting, solid waste conversion, proper biomedical, e-waste and hazardous material handling, waste management, rain water harvesting tanks, recharging ground water facilities, maintenance of water bodies. Kochi campus had banned plastic use in 2018.
• Campuses have restrictions on automobile use and promote pedestrian pathways.
• With 256 species of trees, herbal garden, Amrita’s green activities had won Swacch Bharat’s top ranking and the Chancellor being awarded by the Prime Minister for contribution towards Swachh Bharat Kosh.
• The University fully subscribes to and implements disabled friendly facilities.
• 200+ events/year sensitize students and staff as responsible citizens.
• 150+ commemorative or celebrative events.
• University’s best practices include our international programs, that has connected with 100+ partners and our experiential learning Live-In Labs program that is changing how students perceive and solve real problems in rural India.
• The most distinctive aspect is our compassion-driven research involving faculty solving immediate societal problems.