Faculty & Staff: Program Review Process
The department is the primary unit of analysis for the UNH academic program review process for both undergraduate and graduate programs. Whenever possible, the review of both undergraduate and graduate programs located in the same department should proceed together. This document outlines the procedural steps for graduate program reviews.
Graduate Program Review
The major purpose of Graduate Program Review at the University of New Hampshire is to ensure that programs are functioning at the highest possible levels of academic quality and are operating in ways that are consistent with the missions of the University and the Graduate School. The process of Graduate Program Review serves as a means to inform faculty, administrators, students, and University governance bodies with respect to the relative merits and areas of needed improvement in particular programs. In this sense, Graduate Program Review is a tool for critical reflection and change. Through careful documentation and analysis, faculty and students can take advantage of the review process to assess the quality, centrality, demand, and costs associated with specific programs and subsequently develop plans for program enhancement.
Program reviews should result in a set of recommendations crafted by faculty and endorsed by academic administrators that include concrete strategies and benchmarks for achieving improved quality. Graduate reviews may be part of a departmental review (recommended) or may be a review of just the graduate program. The graduate program review policy can be found under the faculty and staff policy section of the website.
Procedural Steps
In the spring of each year the College/School Dean identifies programs that will conduct self studies during the next academic year and forwards the list to the Vice-Provost, and as appropriate the Graduate Dean. Institutional Research (IR) maintains a schedule for reviews that is posted on the IR web site.
Early in the fall, IR will contact each program that is commencing the self-study process and advise the chair of the self-study committee how to access a variety of data reports that are available from IR. The Graduate School is copied on that notification if the graduate program is to be included in the self-study. IR will provide a username and password to access these reports.
Upon notification by IR that a self-study is to commence, the Graduate School will contact the chair of the self-study committee about accessing those reports provided by the Graduate School as well as the on-line survey of students and alumni/ae. Note: it is usually best to access the graduate school reports after R+30 in the fall. Programs that wish to begin the process in the summer, may request to have the reports run for the previous year and then can request an update after R+30. The graduate school will provide these reports upon request.
An on-line survey for students and alumni has been developed for use by the self study committees. Student and alumni feedback is a required part of the self-study and it is recommended that this instrument be used.
The University Librarian should also be contacted early in the development of the self study. The appropriate librarian will prepare an assessment of the library collection in relation to the program. This assessment should be reflected in the final self-study report.
A copy of the self-study is to be submitted to the Dean of the Graduate School, preferably by September 1 of the academic year in which a program is to be reviewed, with a copy to the appropriate school/ college dean. At this point, the school/college dean is invited to submit his or her own independent assessment of the program, including comments on the self-study. The self-study and the dean’s statement are then referred to the Program Review Committee of the Graduate Faculty.
Following receipt of the self-study, the Program Review Committee will meet to discuss the self-study. A meeting with the self study committee may also occur. The Program Review Committee, through the Graduate Dean, will notify the program of any needed clarifications or additions. A revised self-study document, if requested, must be submitted to the college/school and graduate dean by January 1st.
Once the self-study has been accepted by the Program Review Committee, an external review panel will be organized. The panel will consist of at least three members – one UNH faculty member and at least two senior faculty members from other universities. The 2-day campus visit will normally take place early in the spring.
At the conclusion of the external review panel’s visit, the panel will submit a written report.
Based on the self-study (including the Program Enhancement Plan), the report from the external review panel, and any response to the panel’s report from the program faculty, the Program Review Committee will make a final assessment and recommendation to the Dean of the Graduate School and the Graduate Council.
The Dean of the Graduate School will consult with the appropriate college/school dean the provost before making a final decision.
Last Revised 11/05
Accessing the Data Reports
The Graduate School has created a series of data analysis reports, which we make available on a request only basis, for those departments under review. You can request the reports from Jonathan Adams at the Graduate School. Please see the historical data reports page for more information on the reports.
Note that the provided reports are best run after the Fall R30 process has run. This way you will have the most current data available as most of the data comes from the R30 counts. Data is run only for the fall semesters of each year.
Using the Program Review Survey
The graduate program review policies and procedures can be found on our website in PDF format which also includes the guidelines for the Self-Study and Program Enhancement Plan.
As a tool for UNH departments to do program reviews, the UNH Graduate School and the Office of Institutional Research, created an online web survey that students can fill out and submit so that departments can then use the data as part of their program review analysis. Departments using this survey should direct all participants to the link shown below:
It is important that any participants, contacted by the department to submit this survey, are instructed to choose the program they are doing the survey for (as some participants may have completed more then one program at the University).
Currently the survey must be completed in one sitting by the participant and takes about 5-10 minutes. The data is stored on the Graduate School web server database and is shared with Institutional Research who handles the actual reporting and data use.
If you have any questions about the technical aspects of this form please contact the Web Manager. Administrative questions on the use of the form and reporting should be directed to the Graduate School Dean's Office.
Program Review Survey Results
Once a department has had their students go through the survey process, the data collected will be sorted out by program, analyzed through SPSS and the results accessed through the Institutional Research Website. Once it is approved for release, through the various offices involved, the department will be notified by the Institutional Research Office that the analyzed data is ready.
The general flow is that the department initiates the survey through the graduate school (by notifying their web manager, currently Jonathan Adams) that they are ready to use the survey, and then, when they feel they are ready to have the survey data analyzed, they notify IR and notify the Graduate School that they are done collecting survey data. IR in turn requests the final results from our office, which we then provide to them for analysis, and when done, the results are made available to the department.
