Program Review
What is Program Review?
Academic program review is a systematic process used to evaluate the effectiveness and quality of an academic program. The goal is to ensure that programs are meeting their objectives, staying current with academic and industry standards, and contributing to the institution's mission. Key components of an academic program review include:
- Self-Study: The program faculty and staff conduct a self assessment analyzing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges. This often includes evaluating curriculum, faculty qualifications, student outcomes and resources.
- External Review: Experts from outside the institution, often from similar programs at other universities, review the self-study report and conduct on-site visits or virtual meetings to provide an objective evaluation.
- Student and Alumni Feedback: Gathering input from current students and graduates to assess their experiences and outcomes can provide valuable insights into the program's effectiveness.
- Data Analysis: Analyzing data such as enrollment trends, graduation rates, employment outcomes, and student satisfaction surveys.
- Improvement Plan: Based on the findings, the program develops a plan for addressing identified issues and enhancing strengths. This plan typically includes specific actions, timelines and responsible parties.
- Follow-up: Monitoring the implementation of the improvement plan and making adjustments as necessary.
The review process helps the institution to maintain high standards, align programs with current academic and industry trends, and ensure UTPB's culture of continuous improvement.
According to the Coordinating Board,
“Chapter 5, Subchapter C, section 5.52 of Coordinating Board rules provides criteria and procedures for the review of existing graduate programs. The rule creates a 10-year period during which institutions are required to review all of their master’s and doctoral programs. The Coordinating Board has an online system that records and tracks the graduate review schedule of each institution, allows institutions to submit review materials, and gives institutions feedback from Board staff.
Institutions choose a person to serve as the single point of contact for graduate program review (GPR). That point of contact works with Board staff to set or change the review schedule, works with other institutional personnel to ensure that reviews are conducted appropriately and on schedule, and submits review materials through the GPR system in a timely fashion.” (https://www.highered.texas.gov/new-program-development/program-reviews/)