Centenary University Institutional Effectiveness Assessment Plan

The Centenary University Institutional Effectiveness Assessment Plan is designed to assess the effectiveness of the university’s mission and strategic goals on an annual basis. The assessment will involve input from both academic and operational (non-academic) units and will consist of assessing the previous year’s goals and the following year’s plans. The goal of this assessment is to identify areas of improvement and to ensure that the university is on track to achieving its mission and strategic goals.

Assessment Methodology

• Data Collection: Data will be collected from various sources including academic and operational units, surveys, focus groups, interviews, and benchmarking.
• Data Analysis: The data collected will be analyzed to identify strengths and areas of improvement in relation to the university’s mission and strategic goals.
• Reporting: A report will be generated that summarizes the findings of the assessment and includes recommendations for improvement.
• Implementation: The recommendations will be shared with university leadership and the appropriate action plan will be developed for implementation.
• Follow-up: The effectiveness of the action plan will be evaluated and reported on an annual basis.

Assessment Criteria

• Mission and Strategic Goals: The assessment will focus on the effectiveness of the university’s mission and strategic goals in achieving its objectives.
• Academic Units: The assessment will focus on the academic units’ performance in relation to the university’s mission and strategic goals.
• Operational Units: The assessment will focus on the operational units’ performance in relation to the university’s mission and strategic goals.
• Student Satisfaction: The assessment will focus on student satisfaction (evaluation of alignments between unit-level goals Student Satisfaction Inventory outcomes).
• Budgetary Implications: The assessment will focus on the use of assessment results for planning and resource allocation.

Assessment Schedule

The assessment will be conducted on an annual basis and will include the following schedule:

• Division Level training: September-October (based on and driven by individual Division outcomes from previous year’s assessment cycle)
• Unit-level submissions: November-December (previous year’s reports and next year’s annual goals)
• Assessment results disseminated: January-February (results will be discussed and the highest achieving Division and Unit will be announced)
• Institutional Effectiveness Conference: May-June
• Final end-of-year report: June-July (including recommendations for process improvement)
• Cabinet approval on process improvements: June-July

Note: The Centenary University Institutional Effectiveness Assessment Plan will be reclassified into an Institutional Effectiveness Assessment Procedure during June-July 2023 Cabinet Approval phase.

Assessment Outcomes

1. Assess unit-level plans and reports
   • Analyze individual unit-level outcomes
   • Evaluate department/division-level outcomes
   • Evaluate university-wide aggregate outcomes
2. Demonstrate how unit-level outcomes are:
   • Guided by University strategic goals
   • Support strategic goals
   • Inform strategic goals
   • Linked to decision making
   • Purpose/problem driven
   • Informed and driven by assessment
3. Unit-level assessment is linked to the University budget planning cycle
4. Unit-level planning informs budget planning