'
Program Review
For departments preparing for or currently undergoing Program Review.
History of Program Review
Schedule of Reviews
Program Review Objectives
Academic program review consists of on-going, high quality peer reviews of all the University's academic units and programs on a five-year cycle. The purpose of program review is to foster academic excellence, to determine how to raise the quality of every department, and to provide guidance for faculty and administrative decisions in support of continual future improvement.
Reviews are intended to provide a sharpened focus on program areas in which excellence can be achieved and that will enhance national stature while assuring the most efficient use of available resources. Final plans that are the outcome of program review will guide decisions to develop and allocate new resources.
Every department will prepare a self-study containing a comprehensive plan for improvement over the next six years, with special attention to graduate programs. The process is intended to assist an academic unit in understanding its current status so that it can establish clear priorities for achieving excellence or becoming eminent in its field.
A critique of each unit's (the Provost will determine whether department or school level review is appropriate at time of initiating review, considering, among other factors, unit size) plans for achieving excellence and recommendations for constructive change will be provided by faculty peers from the best programs in the field at other leading universities.
Program reviews should have the following characteristics:
- Reviews incorporate expert assessment provided by reviewers from other leading institutions.
- Reviews are forward looking. While assessment of a program's current status is important, priorities for continual future improvement are of greatest concern.
- Reviews are evaluative, not just descriptive. Plans for improvement require academic judgments about the quality of the program, students, curriculum, learning outcomes, resources and future directions.
- Review provides a concise, honest appraisal of an academic unit's strengths and weaknesses in order to judge plans to improve.
- Academic program reviews should incorporate recent results from an accreditation review and not duplicate those efforts.
- Reviews will result in an action plan with an overarching strategic agenda, which will enable the program to increase its stature or achieve eminence.
- Action plans emphasize improvements that are possible through reallocation of the program's existing resources. These plans should include a timeline, milestones and measurable outcomes to determine success.
- 04/05 SWAG, Bioethics
- 05/06 Media Studies, English and Creative Writing, American Studies, Statistics, Mathematics
- 06/07 University Press, ROTC, Biology, Anthropology, Politics, Sociology, Economics
- 07/08 French, Spanish, Slavic, ASL, Classics, German
- 08/09 Astronomy, Chemistry, Environmental Sciences, Physics, Psychology, Curry School of Education, SEAS
- 09/10 Art, Drama, Music, African-American and African Studies, History, Jewish studies, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Basic Medical Sciences, Darden Graduate School of Business, McIntire School of Commerce, School of Architecture, SCPS, School of Law, School of Medicine, School of Nursing
History of Program Review
The first reviews were conducted in the 1996-97 academic year and the first cycle of reviews continued for another four years, ending in 2000-2001. In all, 75 academic programs in the College of Arts and Sciences, the McIntire School of Commerce, the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the Nursing School, the Curry School of Education, and the School of Architecture were reviewed.
Learn more about the first cycle of Program Review.
See data from a past Program Review.
View a past Program Review report.
At the end of the 2000-2001 cycle, a review of Program Review was conducted to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the process and to make suggestions for improvement. The results of this review were carefully considered in drafting a plan to begin a second cycle of Program Review, to begin in 2004 and to include all academic programs (the first cycle did not include Law, Darden or the Medical School). The second cycle of Program Review began in 2004 and emphasized program improvement, with special attention to graduate studies, and comprehensive planning. In 2005 additional components were added to ensure that programs used the results of assessments for program improvement, especially student learning.
Schedule of Reviews