Academic Program Planning and Review
Framework for Academic Program Management
Academic Program Management provides an infrastructure and a base of information to enable academic leaders to make decisions regarding resources, faculty productivity, institutional quality, accreditation, and student success.
Academic Program Management at RIT
The framework for academic program management at RIT can be parsed into three broad categories – planning and development, assessment and evaluation, and improvement/reinvention/termination.
Planning and development includes criteria for program approval, the process for program approval, and the budgeting of resources for the new program. Assessment and evaluation includes annual program audits, analyzing program productivity with established Delaware data, tracking new program performance, and broader program review. Finally, improvement/reinvention/termination refers to those activities that, as a result of continual assessment, will improve, reinvent the program (such as redesigning the curriculum) or in some cases discontinuing or reducing a program.
Program Planning and development
Every great university should have a thorough planning and development process for new academic programs. Such processes are guided by on overarching institutional academic plan that makes clear the university mission, distinguishing program characteristics and institutional values that every program should endeavor to reflect.
RIT’s vision articulates the important goals of an RIT education: RIT aims to “lead higher education in preparing students for innovative, creative and successful careers in a global society.” These goals should be imbedded in every academic program.
New program approval process: New programs at RIT are required to have a thorough vetting from faculty and administrative review. New program development starts with the conceptual review stage and progresses through various internal review and approval stages. RIT curriculum review policies (Policy D1.0) govern the required levels of review. Review concludes with approval by the Provost and alignment to the Institute Budget process.
Assessment and evaluation
Existing programs will have four components of review and evaluation.
Program census: The program census is an annual compilation of institutional data (pulled from institutional research) that gauges from a quantitative perspective the health of the program. It shows 5-year trends and assesses progress towards goals such as selectivity, persistence, and enrollment.
Delaware data: The Delaware study is a national study conducted by the University of Delaware to assess program productivity. By comparing RIT programs with programs of the same discipline at other institutions, faculty and administrators will be able to comparatively assess how RIT programs are managed and resourced.
New program tracking: A new program is approved with an academic cost model that indicates revenues based on enrollment and costs based on faculty instruction, space, and equipment. The campus agrees to fund resources to the program under these targets. The new program tracking is a mechanism to track program enrollment targets and anticipated resources. If new programs do not meet their projections, a plan for program recovery or discontinuance is developed.
Program review: A program review is an extensive review of the quality of a program. Typically programs undergo thorough review every 5 or 7 years. Many accreditation organizations require these reviews and have their own review processes.
Improvement / Reinvention / Discontinuance of programs
On the basis of assessment and evaluation, programs can be improved, reconfigured and reinvented, or, in some cases terminated. Improvements can range from curriculum changes to different resource allocation. In some cases, improvements, like reconfigured programs, will need campus approval through the same process as new programs. RIT has policy (E20.0) to provide guidance and oversight to those programs slated for discontinuance.