Managing Change on Campus: Academic Program Development and Assessment
With most colleges and universities facing unprecedented budgetary pressure, institutional new program development (NPD) processes are being scrutinized to increase their efficiency and success. Academic leaders are expected to move more quickly than they have in the past to respond to changing market demand and to establish new and successful revenue streams for the institution. Additionally, they face increased pressure to assess existing programs and use data to demonstrate their continued relevance and value. Through this paper, Eduventures, a higher education research and consulting firm, will provide insight into effective strategies for researching new academic programs and for assessing existing ones. The paper provides high-level analysis on today’s major national trends, as well as case studies that exemplify how strong NPD processes can help colleges and universities save money and increase the likelihood of a program’s success. Finally, it provides a basic assessment model that you can use to assess programs at your institution.