Comprehensive Program Review

The policy of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia 3.6.3 requires all academic programs to undergo a Comprehensive Program Review at least once every seven years.

Comprehensive Program Review is the key long term review of the quality, productivity, and viability of academic programs at the University of West Georgia.

Purpose

Comprehensive Program Review (CPR) serves as the catalyst for systematic and thoughtful evaluation of an academic program. It is distinctly different from annual assessments of student learning. CPR evaluates the long-term history and sets the long-term plans for an academic program.

Outcomes

It is expected that CPR is a resource neutral process. This analysis should focus on improving outcomes within existing resource constraints, rather than securing new resources. Resource requests are managed through the normal budget and planning processes.

Characteristics

This review focuses on three characteristics of an academic program - quality, viability, and productivity - which are defined below.

Quality

Measures of excellence. Quality indicators may include, but are not limited to, attainment of student learning outcomes, a comparison of program elements relative to internal and external benchmarks, resources, accreditation criteria, relevant external indicators of program success (e.g., license and certification results, placement in graduate schools, job placement, and awards and honors received by the program), and other standards.

Viability

The use of such considerations as available resources, student interest, career opportunities, and contributions to the goals and mission of the institution, University System, and state to determine whether a program should be continued as is or modified (expanded, curtailed, consolidated, or eliminated). Viability considerations are independent of quality measures; i.e., a high quality program could lack viability, or a program in need of considerable improvement could have high viability.

Productivity

The number and contributions of graduates of an academic program and/or the number of students served through service courses in the context of the resources committed to its operation. (Additional measures of productivity might include counts of students who meet their educational goals through the program's offerings, including minors, certificates, or job enhancement, if such goals are part of the program's mission.)

Timing

Each academic program is reviewed at least once every seven years. Programs that do not measure well against the review characteristics (as determined by the Program Faculty, Department Chair, Dean, Senate, Provost, or President) are subject to review at least every 3 years.

Academic Program

All credentialed programs are included in the review cycle including certificates, minors in areas where there is no major, and coherent, identifiable areas of focus such as the core curriculum.

Content

Program reviews will conform to the same form and respond to the same questions. Reviews should use data from the period since the last review.

2022-2023 Timeline:

  1. Programs receive link to review template in Google Drive by October 3rd from Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment.
  2. Programs fill out and answer all questions of the template and submit their review to their Dean's office no later than December 1st.
  3. Deans will submit the reviews with their commentary to either the Chair of the Undergraduate or Graduate Program Committee (UPC and GPC) of Faculty Senate no later than February 1st.
    • Undergraduate Program Committee
    • Graduate Program Committee
  4. UPC and GPC will complete and submit their review to Dr. Jill Drake, AVPAA, by April 3rd.
  5. Provost's Office will complete and share the final review and Provost Summary Form with Programs no later than June 30th.
  6. Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment will file all completed reviews in Program Files for permanent record retention by July 31st.

Sample Template

This CPR Sample Template (PDF, 501K) is for informational purposes only. Each program will receive their Program-Specific Template in August of the review year from the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment.

Download our UWG Comprehensive Program Review schedule (PDF, 54 KB) for more details regarding the process.