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Conflict of Interest Policy Introduction This policy addresses Conflict of Interest (COI) to ensure highest standards of ethics and integrity. It is to protect organizational interests and reputation. This policy also prevents its work and protect its employees from potentially damaging instances of impropriety arising from Conflict of Interest (COI) issues. The objective is that members must carry out their work in an environment that is free from any proposition of improper influence and take all reasonable steps to avoid being in an actual, apparent or potential Conflict of Interest (COI).   The Conflict of Interest (COI) may arise in a situation where financial or other personal or professional considerations compromise an individual’s objectivity, professional judgment and ability to perform his or her professional responsibilities to the Institute.   All employees have a legal duty to perform their duties with honesty to the Institute. A breach of this may result into erosion of the trust and confidence in the integrity of the Institute. Disciplinary action will be taken in case of breach of this policy. It is, therefore, the duty of all associated with IMS to ensure that these interests do not create a Conflict of Interest (COI) or a perception of a conflict of interest. Scope This policy applies to all IMS employees including faculty and non-faculty and all those employees associated with the Institute in contractual obligations. This policy applies to all situations where an employee’s personal interests appear to influence the objective exercise of his or her official duties. Definition There is no legal definition of an ‘interest’ and it should therefore be considered as a broad term which includes any activity or association in which an employee has a personal interest and is in conflict with an individual’s ability to properly discharge his/her duties and responsibilities to the best interest of the Institute or otherwise affects its integrity and confidence. It refers to a situation where a conflict arises for an individual between two competing interests and may be termed as perceived, potential or actual conflict of interests.   Interests may relate to property, resources, relationships, information or opportunities and are often ‘financial’ or ‘non-financial’ in nature, which may mean that an individual or associated person may stand to gain a benefit or suffer a loss, whether directly or indirectly, as a result of holding such interests. Interests which generally would require disclosure include: Financial InterestsIt means anything of monetary value, including, but not limited to payment of services, commission, consultancy fees, equity interests, remittance of debt, property rights (e.g. patents, copyrights and intellectual property rights). Non-Financial InterestsIt refers to any non-financial benefit or advantage, including but not limited to direct or indirect enhancement of an individual’s career, education or gain to immediate family (or a person with whom the person has a close personal relationship). Recognizing Conflict of Interests A conflict of interest may arise due to personal or business relationship of employees. In such cases, an individual’s personal interests compete with his/her professional requirements to an organization, which may result in the practice of biased decision for considerations of personal financial gains. Such situations can have potentially damaging consequences for the integrity and reputation of the organization. Thus, conflict of interest can compromise an individual’s ability to perform his/her duties and responsibilities objectively. Management and Administration Management and Administration of the Institute are likely to be at higher risk of exposure to individuals or scenarios in which fraud, bribery or corruption is more likely to occur. These people are expected to avoid conflicts of interest in all circumstances and should promote transparency and integrity as part of their primary role. Senior Staff/Faculty Members The HODs and senior staff/faculty members are also required to disclose interests. Senior staff/faculty members also have a leadership role to play in promoting the importance of disclosing interests and support staff accordingly in doing so. These people would be expected to be a first point of contact for staff in their areas of responsibility in helping to assess a particular activity or scenario on the grounds of an actual or potential conflict of interest. They should do this in consultation with colleagues, the Head of Departments and with reference to this Policy. Guidelines on Conflicts of Interest In case of following situations, conflict of interest should be disclosed.   Entering into a business or other contract/transaction on behalf of the Institute with a company or firm in which IMS employee has a financial interest. Influencing the purchase of equipment, materials or services for the Institute from a company or firm in which IMS employees have financial interest. Accepting gifts, benefits or favors from individuals or firms with which the Institute does business, except as token courtesies. Directing students or staff of the Institute to carry out work for a company or firm in which IMS employees have a financial interest. Using the Institute’s resources or facilities for a personal benefit or the benefit of related persons. Influencing the appointment, hiring, promotion or evaluation of a person. Avoidance of Conflicts of Interest All staff/faculty members must avoid conflict of interest by understanding the policy regarding COI and adopting as a practice to declare their personal/professional interests before joining any Committee/official responsibility. Procedures for Managing a Conflict of Interest All employees of the Institute are considered to be in a position of trust by virtue of their employment with the Institute and therefore have a responsibility to identify and disclose known or potential personal, family, pecuniary or business interests which may interfere, or be perceived to interfere, with an individual’s ability to properly discharge his or her duties to the Institute to ensure that such conflicts are seen to be properly managed or avoided.   It is the duty of every staff member to disclose any conflict of interest or any circumstances that might reasonably give rise to the perception of conflict of interest to the Dean, HODs or the Registrar as the case may be. All employees’ inquiries regarding any… Continue reading Conflict of Interest Policy

Community Service Policy Objectives and Procedure: This policy’s goal is to encourage community-building and service-oriented efforts. IMS is dedicated to providing for the community. IMS prioritizes trainings and skill development and focuses on education, health, peace, tolerance, protection and promotion of human rights, environment, and sustainable development. IMS has developed a Community Outreach Program and included it its strategic plan 2022-2027.   IMS Community Service’s mission is to fostering a sense of social responsibility and global citizenship. The faculty, students are all involved in this program. The program goals are to work with organizations and social workers engaged in community development initiatives for the benefit of community members with the following initiatives and strategies.   The provision of school supplies for children, donation of blood by our students and staff to those in need, organization of seminars on various issues that benefit society such as firefighting and other training courses that impart life-saving skills like cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), the cleaning and beautification of roads, parks and other public spaces.   Organizing and promoting activities including book drives, blood camps, immunization drives, community health events, and events to support community residents during religious and national holidays and festivities. Setting up initiatives for a tree plantation, support the efforts of NGOs promoting pollution prevention and environmental protection. Collaborate with not-for-profit organizations to look for financial assistance for the community. Adopt-a-school program involves helping and partnering with a school with the noble objective of educating underprivileged children. View Scanned Document

Career Counseling Policy Career Counseling ICO (IMS Corporate Office) has a designated desk for career counseling whereby we provide 360° career counseling services and holistic process to help student take informed career decisions which include following process: Personality Assessment Career Efficacy insight CV Review Career Counseling and Guidance Interviewing Skills Preparation LinkedIn Profiling Review Awareness about Market Expectations and Future of Careers Mock Interviews with Industry Experts These services ensure students are prepared for the demands of the professional world before entering the job market. Aim To empower students to achieve academic excellence and become active, engaged citizens by providing impartial, comprehensive career guidance that supports their individual needs, aspirations, and potential. Specific objectives include: Fostering a supportive and motivating environment for students’ academic growth. Offering personalized career guidance aligned with students’ interests, strengths, and goals. To ensure our guidance aligns with our mission and meets the unique needs of each student. Facilitating successful university placements within the framework of company policies and academic guidelines. Equipping students with the knowledge and skills necessary to make informed decisions about their future educational and career paths. Promoting a culture of lifelong learning and personal development Enhance our in-house guidance with insights from external experts to broaden students’ horizons. Promote gender diversity in career exploration to prepare students for a more inclusive workforce Confidentiality Counselling session information will be held confidential and will only be shared with the consent of the student. However, counsellor to specify that in case of any significant risk to student, confidentiality will be broken. Parents will be briefed about the limits of confidentiality. Sessions One-to-one sessions with students in institute’s premises. Parents/ students can reach out to the counsellor via email/Zoom/Google Meet/in person. Practice The above-mentioned aims will be achieved by: Offering a career program that equips students with the skills and knowledge needed for technical education. Providing personalized career counselling to Final year students to assist them in selecting appropriate field and offer a range of options to cater to their individual needs. Ensuring all final year students to participate in hands-on work experience to develop practical skills and explore career paths through field internship and capstone project mentioned in the curriculum Integrating entrepreneurship skills into the curriculum through assigning projects in specialized courses Ensuring to maximize the final year students participation in institute’s activities like themed days, entrepreneurs’ day, guest speaker sessions, career fairs etc. View Scanned Document

Anti-Plagiarism Policy Our Anti-Plagiarism Policy 1. Preamble The Higher Education Commission introduced the first Plagiarism Policy in 2007 intending to protect, respect, credit, and recognize the original research and scholarly publications and curb the menace of plagiarism through systemic improvements based on process, development, and punitive actions besides safeguarding against the bogus or false complaints. Since its launch in 2007, a few challenges and concerns were raised about the policy related in general to the interpretation of plagiarism (definitions) across various disciplines, clarity of roles and responsibilities of HEIs vis-à-vis HEC, lack of appeal process, subjective determination of penalties and incomplete articulation of processes of complaints. Given the circumstances, it became essential to review and improve the HEC Plagiarism Policy to incorporate various forms and illustrations in which plagiarism exhibits itself, present a methodology of investigation, cater for punitive action proportional to the extent of the offence, address the issue of false or spurious complaints, institute appellate process, etc. Efficiency & Discipline Rules and the Service Statutes of research institutions and organizations.   The revised Anti-Plagiarism Policy reflects several improvements in terms of principles of the policy, definitions, and types of plagiarism, clear complaint lodging procedure, the composition of the University Anti-Plagiarism Standing Committee, grounds and penalties of plagiarism, the constitution of National Plagiarism Standing Committee at HEC, appellate process, etc. Introducing this policy, the Commission firmly believes that its implementation would significantly enhance academic integrity, thereby the overall quality of the higher education system. 2. The HEC’s Mandate to Prevent Plagiarism The Higher Education Commission (HEC) Ordinance of 2002, under section 10(a), demands that the Commission needs to develop guidelines or policies for improving and promoting quality and ethical research culture. The relevant section of the Ordinance is reproduced below:   Section 10 (a) : Formulate policies, guiding principles, and priorities for higher education institutions for the promotion of socio-economic development of the country.   Given the quoted section, the HEC tasked the Experts Committee on June 29, 2021, to review and revise the Anti-Plagiarism Policy (HEC Plagiarism Policy 2007). This revised Policy intends to uphold the autonomy and responsibility of HEIs/DAIs to ensure the authenticity of ethical research and eliminate the scourge of plagiarism. Anti-plagiarism is just one component of the broader policy framework that deals with Academic Dishonesty and Research Ethics (Gift authorship, Dispute of authorship, Citation Racketeering, etc.). The policy review has to be a dynamic process, due to the evolving National and International ground realities. It is recommended that the Anti-Plagiarism Policy be reviewed, at least once every three to five years, to reflect upon, and respond to, emerging developments. 3. Principles of the Policy The Policy is based on the following general principles: Awareness for Preventing Plagiarism: Universities and faculty members should arrange regular capacity-building activities, within each calendar year, to create awareness about avoiding plagiarism in its various forms. Following Research Ethics: Universities, faculty, students, and staff should follow research ethics to avoid plagiarism in their academic and research contributions. Respecting Intellectual Contribution: Researchers/Scholars and Faculty members should acknowledge other researchers’ intellectual work, as per the norms of their respective disciplines. Devising Process for Probing Plagiarism: Plagiarism is considered a serious matter, and there is a need to curb this menace through proper, detailed, and defined processes. 4. Definition of Plagiarism The online Oxford Learner’s Dictionary defines the term Plagiarism as follows:“The practice of copying another person’s ideas, words or work and pretending that they are your own.”   The online Merriam-Webster dictionary’s definition of Plagiarism is as follows:“To steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s one: use (another’s production) without crediting the source”   https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/plagiarism?q=plagiarism https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plagiarized   Furthermore, the following acts fall within the scope and definition of plagiarism: To steal and present the ideas or words of others as one’s own To use another person’s production, without citing and crediting the source To commit literary theft To present as a new and original idea or product derived from an existing scholarly source. Turning in someone else’s work as one’s own Copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit Failing to put a quote or quotation marks, when copying the exact language from a source Giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation  Changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit Copying a bulk of words or ideas from other references and including them in your work, whether you give credit or not.   The following activities are prevalent in today’s technology-driven society. Despite their everyday use, they still count as academic cheating and plagiarism if done without permission from the original artists/creators. Copying media (especially images) from other websites to paste them into your work or websites. Making a video using footage from others’ videos or copyrighted art and music as part of a soundtrack. Performing another person’s copyrighted music (i.e., playing a cover) without permission. Composing a piece of music which is heavily borrowed from another composition.   Indeed, some media can create challenging situations to determine if the copyrights of a work are being violated. For example: A photograph or scan of a copyrighted image (using a picture of a book cover to represent that book on one’s website)  Recording audio or video in which copyrighted music or video is playing in the background. Re-creating a visual work in the same medium. (Shooting a photograph that uses the same composition and subject matter as someone else’s photograph) Re-creating a graphic work in a different medium (making a painting closely resembling another person’s photo without permission). Re-mixing or altering copyrighted images, videos, audio, or other artistic expressions. Use of ChatGPT and similar machine-generated text.   The document also provides a reference for further guidance on avoiding unauthorized use of copyrighted material: For determining/avoiding unauthorized use of somebody else’s copyrighted material, guidelines from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) are available at https://publicationethics.org/guidance/Guidelines 5. Common Types of Plagiarism Students Collusion: Working with other students on an assignment… Continue reading Anti-Plagiarism Policy

Alumni Engagement Policy Preamble An institute campus is a hub of fond memories and experiences. It is here that the students not only learnt a thing or two about industry topics and set themselves up for career success, but they also built a relationship with their college that grew to ingrained loyalty.   For universities, the love and commitment of alumni can be a powerful tool for fundraising opportunities, marketing and brand awareness for which the university/college need to maintain a relationship with the students even after they receive their degree. In this digital age, the alumni engagement activities can assume a more consistent and impactful activity.   The UGC Quality Mandate mentions one of the initiatives as the “Student Career Progression and Alumni Network of Higher Education Quality Improvement Programme’. Under this initiative it is imperative that each institute should evolve a mechanism to monitor student career progression at every stage as a part of student centric learning. Objectives Fostering connections among graduates to create a supportive community. Pairing students with alumni professionals for guidance, internships, and job opportunities. Facilitating connections between alumni and current students for career advancement and collaboration. Strengthening alumni’s emotional connection to their alma mater, promoting loyalty and advocacy. Encouraging alumni to share their expertise, experiences, and insights with students and faculty. Leveraging alumni networks to attract prospective students and promote the institution. Creating opportunities for alumni to reconnect, socialize, and build relationships. Offering alumni access to continuing education, workshops, and resources for personal and professional development. Empowering alumni to serve as ambassadors, promoting the institution’s reputation and values. Centralized Alumni – Relations Wing: IMS has a centralized Alumni – Relations Wing that is responsible for the alumni engagement initiatives. This alumni-relations wing will suggest / plan various initiatives and programs to engage alumni. They will also approve the activities being planned by either students, faculty or alumni groups. Strategies for Alumni Engagement Alumni Database:In order to be able to contact the alumni in various ways (by phone, email, physical mail, etc.), a comprehensive database of the alumni should be maintained, which has the information regarding the career progress of the alumni. The initial data may typically be compiled by migrating the student admission data to the alumni database after the graduation of the student.Career Progress of the alumni is periodically updated by sharing the form of Alumni Success Stories to our distinguished Alumni (Form) and the team of IMS Alumni Engagement publicize these success stories to retain the legacy of excellence. Alumni Contact:Information about the latest initiatives of the institute should be shared with the alumni. Newsletter: A variety of ways for indirect contact in order to keep the alumni updated about the latest developments at their institute should be there. Initiatives like newsletters (e-newsletters) incorporating information that invite alumni attention, alumni-contact-alumni network programs, etc. Alumni Meet: Alumni meets should be periodically held. Networking events and get together must be periodically organized. Emails may be sent on various occasions. Social Media: Effective use of social media like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram may be used for enhanced reach and interaction with the alumni. Professional social media platform like LinkedIn may be used for networking. Twitter may be used for brief and quick update with the alumn  Alumni Engagement Activities: IMS Alumni Relations Wing must encourage the alumni for active participation in various alumni activities. Alumni may be invited for participation in conferences / seminars as resource persons. Alumni Participation: The alumni may be invited to participate in various academic and non-academic advisory bodies of institute so as to bring their professional experience to these bodies Alumni may be involved at policy-level in the different bodies of Alumni Relation Wing and Institute. Proven alumni at a higher lever may typically be invited so as to bring their proven leadership skills, and also contribute their knowledge of the finer points in the institute’s functioning. Special Interest Groups (SIGs): Special Interest Groups (SIGs), of alumni with common interests may be formed to provide opportunities for exchange of leadership and career development, etc. Awards: The institute should honor the distinguished alumni for their support in brand building exercises and overall development of the institute. The alumni who reach positions of eminence or are otherwise role models to the students may be recognized by the institute by bestowing them with distinguished alumnus/alumna and other similar awards.Special Interest Groups (SIGs), of alumni with common interests may be formed to provide opportunities for exchange of leadership and career development, etc. Reporting to the IMS Alumni Relations Wing: There should be minimum two meetings of the alumni association and one alumni meet per year in addition to the various alumni engagement activities.   The alumni associations of the constituent units should submit a detailed report to the IMS alumni relations wing regarding yearly initiatives. View Scanned Document