UTPB

Quality Enhancement Plan

Welcome to the QEP for the University of Texas of the Permian Basin.
Thank you for expressing an interest in our plan to enhance the critical thinking skills of our students.

Click on this link to read the Executive Summary from the QEP,
or
Click on this link to read the whole QEP.

As part of our SACS reaffirmation of accreditation, we have developed a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). The plan moves the institution into a future in which student learning is significantly enhanced in a particular way. We have chosen critical thinking (CT) as something that we would like to strengthen in our students’ abilities during the QEP.

SACS describes the Quality Enhancement Plan as a “carefully designed and focused course of action that addresses a well-defined issue or issues directly related to improving student learning.” From this description it is clear that the QEP must

  • Address a well-defined issue or set of related issues in student learning
  • Have clear benchmarks for success in student learning
  • Have broad-based support among students, faculty members, staff members and alumni
  • Be able to demonstrate successful improvements in student learning in a five to seven year timeframe
  • Be congruent with the University’s currently existing plans and assessments
  • Be economically feasible

The QEP is future oriented unlike processes of traditional accreditation. Since the plan must be successfully implemented, it needs embody a program that is carefully designed and focused. The QEP can address a wide variety of topics in the collegiate learning experiences of students including knowledge, skills, behaviors, and values. Whatever UTPB chooses as our final QEP program, must be based on empirical information and analysis. A QEP that addresses a substantive learning issue will make a more significant contribution to student learning and have a broader range of campus support. According to SACS Handbook for Reaffirmation of Accreditation, support for the QEP must be evident through

  • A broad-based campus consensus that the QEP will result in significant improvements in the quality of student learning.
  • Participation from all elements of the institution in the identification of the QEP topic.
  • The careful and thorough review of the best available practices related to topic.
  • The financial and human resources that the institution commits to develop, implement and maintain the program envisioned in the QEP
  • The careful and thorough consideration given to the implementation schedule and the allocation of resources.
  • The evaluation structure, objectives, goals, instruments and use of the evaluation results to improve student learning outcomes.

Evaluation of the QEP by SACS

The on-site visiting committee from SACS will evaluate the acceptability of the QEP. An acceptable QEP is a requirement for reaffirmation of accreditation and compliance with Core Requirement 2.12 of the Principles. The on-site team will focus on five elements of evaluation in making their determination about the acceptability of the QEP. Significant deficiencies in any of the five areas can result in a recommendation from the visiting committee.

  • There must be broad-based participation in the development of the QEP topic.
  • The QEP must be clearly focused on a relevant and appropriate topic that the institution can demonstrate is of crucial importance to student learning.
  • The institution must provide evidence that it’s human, physical and financial resources are sufficient to implement, sustain and complete the QEP.
  • The means for evaluating the success of the QEP and using the assessment results to enhance the program and the university must be clearly identified, described, and capable of being successfully implemented.
  • There must be a broad-base of support for the QEP among students, faculty, staff and other constituencies of the university.

Developing a QEP Topic at UTPB

The QEP Team is responsible for the development of the QEP topic and plan. Although that group has looked at the strategic plan, the Compact with the University of Texas System, the institutional assessments, and what other universities are doing, the most important source of ideas for the QEP has been you. The Committee used your input gathered from open meetings and a wide variety of student, faculty and staff meetings to create the QEP. A draft of the document is now available for public review and comment. See the link below. Please send your comments on the plan to sherblom_p@utpb.edu.