Department of Political Science & Sociology North South University Self-Assessment at Program Level: Concept & Process By Mahbubur Rahman, Ph.D. Department of Political Science & Sociology North South University 29 November, 2016

What is Self-Assessment? Self-Assessment (SA) is the process of critically reviewing the performance of Program and/or Institution to improve student learning. It’s an on-going process designed to monitor and improve student learning. The SA process allows the entity to discern clearly its strengths as well as the areas of improvements.

Why Self-Assessment? For Improvement- Purpose of Self- Assessment is Not to prove but to Improve For Participation- It’s a collaborative effort and therefore it requires the involvement of all the Stakeholders For Reflection- It should consider the Strengths, the areas of Improvement and Improvement Plan.

Shifting attitude from reactive to proactive Understanding program’s standards Creating opportunity to revisit the program objectives and learning outcomes Creating scope for rectification of deficiencies Preparing the academic program for review of the ExternalAccreditation bodies.

The objectives of Program SA exercise are: In other words The objectives of Program SA exercise are: To review the existing capacity prevailed and procedures and processes exercised by the entity for their improvement To create a basis for external assessment and validation To provide guidelines or direction for strategic planning To maintain and continuously enhance academic standards To improve programs’ quality and enhance students’ learning

How can student learning be improved? Five questions that should be continually kept in mind for establishing quality culture are: What are we trying to do? How well are we doing it? (Using the answers to the first two questions), how can we improve what we are doing? What and how does a program contribute to the development and growth of its students? How can student learning be improved?

Components/Criteria of Program level Self-Assessment 1. Governance: Organization & Management 2. Curriculum: Content, design and review 3. Student Admission, Progress and Achievement 4. Physical Facilities 5. Teaching-Learning and Assessment 6. Student Support Services 7. Staff and Facilities 8. Research & Extension (Development) 9. Process Management & Continuous Improvement

Program Self-Assessment Report Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Significance of Program Self-Assessment 1.2 Process of Assessment 1.3 Overview of the University 1.4 Overview of the program offering entity 1.5 Intended Learning Outcomes of the Program 1.6 Brief Description of the program(s) under review

Chapter 2: Governance 2.1 Program Management: Mission & Objectives; Management; Academic leadership and Autonomy; Accountability & Transparency 2.2. Academic Documentation 2.3 Peer Observation & Feedback Process 2.4 Internal Quality Assurance Process

Chapter 3: Curriculum: Content Design & Review 3.1 Need Assessment 3.2 Curriculum Design: Content & Structure; Defining course Learning Outcomes 3.3 Curriculum Review Process 3.4 Skill development mechanism 3.5 Evaluation: Gaps in Curriculum & Adequacy to Meet the Needs and Achievement

Chapter 4: Student Entry qualifications, Admission procedure, Progress and Achievements 4.3 Progress & Achievement

Chapter 5: Physical Facilities 5.1 Classroom 5.2 Library facilities 5.3 Laboratory and field laboratories 5.4 Medical facilities 5.5 Other facilities (sports, cultural….)

Chapter 6: Teaching -Learning and Assessment 6.1 Quality Staff : Teachers’ and students’ quality for achieving ILOs 6.2 Teaching learning methods :Clearness of ILOs to the students and teachers; and effectiveness of teaching- learning for achieving ILOs 6.3 Use of lesson Plan 6.4 Technology integration 6.5 Pedagogical strategy follows in the classroom: KSA 6.6 Skill development Mechanism 6.7 Assessment of Student Performance: -Clearness of assessment methods, -Fairness and effectiveness of assessment methods

Chapter 7: Student Support Services 7.1 Co-curricular and Extra-curricular Activities 7.2 Academic Guidance and Counseling 7.3 Career & Placement 7.4 Alumni Services 7.5 Community Services

8.3 Peer Observation: Staff Development Chapter 8: Staff and facilities 8.1 Entry Qualifications 8.2 Recruitment 8.3 Peer Observation: Staff Development 8.4 Key Performance Indicators (KPI)

Chapter 9: Research and Extension 9.1 Policy and program 9.2 Fund and facilities 9.3 Fund hunting 9.4 Dissemination of research findings: - Publications -Consultancy -Community development initiated -Engagement of students in CS

10.1 Self-assessment: Conducting SA.. 10.2 Improvement plan Chapter 10: Process Management and Continuous Improvement 10.1 Self-assessment: Conducting SA.. 10.2 Improvement plan 10.3 Stakeholders feedback 10.4 Use of peer observation results 10.5 Use of all feedback

Chapter 11: SWOT Analysis 11.1 Strengths 11.2 Weaknesses 11.3 Opportunities 11.4 Threats

Chapter 12: Conclusion, Recommendation and Improvement Plan 12.2 Strategic plan for further improvement of the institution

Steps in SA Process Formation of SAC in the concerned Department. Approval of SAC by the Vice Chancellor Preparation of the activity schedule with time line Team Building workshop (1st workshop) Preparing of survey tools following set criteria and standards Conducting survey and preparing the draft Self- Assessment Report(SAR). Draft SAR review workshop (2nd workshop) Preparing the final SAR Submission of SAR for endorsement

Selecting the external peer review panel Preparing the draft improvement plan Finalizing improvement plan (3rd workshop) Execution of improvement plan

Phases of SA Process Once in Five-Year Phase # 1 Defining standards to be measured Phase # 5 Improvement planning and execution Phase # 2 meaningful, manageable, and sustainable assessment planning Continuous Improvement Phase # 3 Collecting, analyzing data & preparing SAR Phase # 4 External review & validation Of SAR Once in Five-Year

To sum up SA must be the part of academic culture to improve academic quality and enhance student learning SA is the beginning of the process of achieving ‘excellence in higher education’ & accreditation.

What do we need now? Team Building & Commitment from Everyone: This workshop is meant for awareness and team building. It is very important to ensure the cooperation and participation of all faculty-members and staff of the Department.

We are going to prepare the survey tools (questionnaire) for major stakeholders Students, Alumni, Employers, Academic staff, Non-academic staff So we need everybody’s cooperation Together we will make a difference!

Accreditation Quality Assurance Self-Assessment