Program Review

Procedures for Program Review

The following Indiana University South Bend program review procedures are derived from the Indiana University Procedures for Program Reviews.

Procedures for Certificates not Within a Program

Overview of Procedure

  1. IU South Bend will implement a campus-based system of periodic program reviews of individual academic units not subject to regular accrediting and professional organizational review.
  2. Program reviews are to be conducted every five to seven years.
  3. Program reviews will be conducted by the Dean or Program Director in cooperation with the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.
  4. Program reviews will make use of outside peer evaluators who are mutually agreeable to the Faculty of the unit, the Dean or Program Director and the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.
  5. The program review is based on the unit's self-study prepared by the faculty of the unit under review (see below, Self-Study Content Guidelines)
  6. The unit under review and the outside reviewer(s) will receive support services to conduct the review from the Office of the Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs. Financial costs of the review are the responsibility of the unit with ancillary support from the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.
  7. The external reviewer(s) will submit a report of findings in a timely manner to the Dean or Program Director and the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
    • Are the unit’s mission and goals appropriate?
    • How well is the unit achieving these goals and meeting its mission?
    • What changes should be made in light of the review findings and what are the recommendations on effecting these changes?
    • What resources will be necessary to mediate any deficiencies and achieve short– and long–range goals

Self-Study Content Guidelines

Although self-studies will necessarily be tailored to particular programs under review, there are essential characteristics that are expected in all self-studies. A comprehensive report will go beyond the description below.

  1. Introduction
    1. A description of the process for preparing the self-study and those involved in its preparation.
    2. The programs being including in the review, including all majors, minors, and certificates (including stand-alone). If concentrations, cognates, and specializations are offered, please list each.
    3. Governance structure and administrative support of the department.
    4. Major changes made since the last program-review and the reason for the change.
  2. Mission and Vision of the program and how it relates to the mission and vision of the campus and university
  3. Faculty and Staff
    1. A summary description of the full-time faculty and staff. Provide current curriculum vitae for all full-time faculty in an appendix.
    2. A summary description of the number and qualifications of part-time and visiting faculty that have taught in the program over the last three-years and the key courses taught.
    3. Description of PTR criteria for faculty.
    4. An overview of current full-time faculty teaching, research and service efforts
  4. Curriculum Description
    1. Curriculum description of all majors, minors, and certificates, including concentrations, tracks, or specializations, the total number of credit hours required for completion and purpose of each.
    2. Curriculum maps (as an appendix) for all areas being reviewed.
    3. Discussion of joint, dual degree, accelerated or interdisciplinary programs supported by the department.
    4. Description of changes in the curriculum since the last program review.
    5. Description of interdisciplinary program offerings (if any).
  5. Departmental Resources
    1. Overview of departmental budget.
    2. Discussion of the adequacy of current staffing (staff and faculty).
    3. Review of physical resources (e.g., offices, classroom, laboratory space, technology, equipment, library holdings).
  6. Discussion of progress on previous goals from the last program review.
  1. Student Learning Outcomes
    1. Evaluation of student learning outcomes for the program.
    2. Review and discussion of the use of assessment data for improving learning outcomes.
    3. Evaluation of annual assessment data and how the results of these assessments are used for continuous program improvement.
    4. Evidence of student learning in service courses offered by the department
  2. Program Performance
    1. Demand for the Program (e.g., trends in the number of student majors, enrollments and degrees granted since the last review (https://uirr.iu.edu/compliance/ipeds/index.html and IER Data).
    2. Student Diversity: The racial, ethnic and gender diversity of program majors (https://uirr.iu.edu/compliance/ipeds/index.html and IER Data).
    3. For graduate programs, the undergraduate GPA of new students, the number of students offered admission and the number of students accepting offer.
    4. Evidence of faculty accomplishments.
    5. External recognition of students, faculty, or graduates.
    6. Post-degree progress of graduates.
    7. Evidence of program quality from surveys/interviews of students, alumni, and employers
    8. An assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the program, including a description of challenges that may have impacted the program.

The Program Review Dashboard contains data sources for a more streamlined, efficient, and consistent completion of self-studies, program reviews, and external reviews geared towards internal and external reporting. The data sources include enrollment (head and hours), class enrollment (heads and hours), grades, degree completions, retention by plan, and faculty and staff FTE:

  • Enrollments: reported on minors, primary plans, and non-primary plans (academic plan 2 and 3)
  • Enrollment by Course Subject: mapped student and course orgs to identify majors and non-majors
  • Class Fill Rate: identified combined sections when courses with different subject codes and sections were consolidated and taught as a single class
  • Degree Completions: in addition to degree count, added average GPA, time to degree, and units-completed-to-taken ratio as lens through which to evaluate attained degrees.

External Reviewer Questions/Topics

Please provide any questions or topics the department believes the external reviewer should address.