Program Review
All university academic departments consistently engage in program review. The Office of Institutional Effectiveness annually prepares a vast set key performance measures which are reviewed by administration, chairs, and faculty. The Kansas Board of Regents annually reviews programs from all regents institutions. The practice of continuous program review is also a requirement of the Higher Learning Commission.
Program Review Topics and Descriptions
Review Indicators
The quantitative information used to analyze the effectiveness of an academic program is collected from multiple sources and is reported on an annual basis. The indicators are presented in a trend data format where 5-years of continuous annual data are compared from one year to the next with a five year average comparison field, as well. The indicators track enrollment, student credit hours generated, retention, completions, faculty resources, and instruction cost per student credit hour and per full-time enrollment student.
Cycles of Review
The Kansas Board of Regents establishes the program review cycle as 8-years. The schedule is set in advance and rotates institutional programs in a cyclical manner on an annual basis. Programs may be reviewed in shorter time lines, if it is determined that they are not meeting minima standards set for average numbers of enrolled students or numbers of completions per year. These standards vary based on whether a program is an undergraduate, master, or doctoral level of study. The out of cycle reviews can be summoned by either the institution or the Kansas Board of Regents.
KBOR Reporting Format
In the Kansas Board of Regents Policy manual, it outlines the content topics of the Program Review Report and the policy related to reporting cycles. In addition, the board annually provides the institution with a list of those programs scheduled for review in the upcoming year, the dates that the reviews are due to the board, and the template to be used to record the program review report. The report template provides a standardized way for all programs to be reported and ensures that the required information and data metrics are included.
Preparing the Program Review
The department chair and dean of the college or school where the program resides are responsible for preparing and confirming the integrity of the report. Although the department chair is responsible for report completion, the faculty who instruct the program courses have a comprehensive role in providing insights and information for the report. In addition, the Office of Institutional Effectiveness is responsible for updating and distributing the program review metrics whereby providing the required quantifiable data for the report.