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S.90-33
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TO: Senate
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
MEMORANDUM
FROM:
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Liora Salter
Acting Vice-President,
Academic
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RE:
Guidelines for Implementation
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DATE:
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April 27, 1990
of External Reviews
The Senate Committee on Academic Planning, at its April meeting,
approved the attached set of proposed guidelines for implementation of external
reviews. The intent is thatthse guidelines be appended to existing Senate Policy
on Program Reviews (S81-4.
MOTION:
That Senate approve, and recommend approval to the
Board of Governors, the proposed guidelines for
implementation of external reviews, as outlined in
S90-33
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IIViI
To: ?
Senate
from.
•
Liora
Acting Vice-President, Academic
• ?
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
MEMORANDUM
Subject: Guidelines for External
?
Date: May 1, 1990
Reviews
In Paper S.81-, Senate approved that SCAP should conduct program
reviews, including reviewing and recommending to Senate proposals for
new programs or major modifications to existing programs and the review
of existing programs for purposes of assessment, expansion, curtailment or
discontinuance. Item 7. within that Paper set out the following:
"Existing programs may be referred for review and
assessment to the Senate Committee on Academic
• ?
Planning either by 1) the Dean of the Faculty, or 2) the
Vice-President, Academic, or 3) the Senate. The criteria
attached in Appendix A will guide the review and
assessment of existing programs".
The criteria in Appendix A (attached) set particular characteristics against
which the program might be measured, but they made no reference to the
process that should be followed. Therefore, it is the recommendation of
SCAP that the attach
?
guidelines for implementation of external reviews
be appended to S.81-
,
7
as clarification of the guidelines under which the
process of departmental review should be conducted.
0
GUIDELINES FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF
?
EXTERNAL REVIEWS
All units -- academic and administrative -- are reviewed on a periodic basis,
normally once every seven years. The purpose of such reviews is to encourage units
to conduct their own assessments of their strengths and weaknesses and to engage in
planning for their own future.
The stages of the review of academic departments are as follows:
Initiation by the Vice-President, Academic, acting as Chair of SCAP, of the
review, after consultation with the Dean of the Faculty and of Graduate Studies
and with the unit involved.
2.
Period of self-study, possibly including a retreat, in which the members of the
unit assess all aspects of the activities falling within its mandate. A report by the
unit is produced at the end of a self-study period which normally does not
exceed two semesters in length.
3.
Identification of the external review group, in consultation with the Deans and
the unit involved. Normally the unit will provide a list of suitable reviewers for
the assistance of the Vice-President, Academic, who shall make the decision on
the membership and composition of the external review group,
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4. ?
The external review group will consist of at least three persons external to the
university who are senior in the discipline or field involved. The Vice-President,
Academic, may include an additional member of another unit at Simon Fraser,
to act as a resource person for the external reviewers.
5.
After consultation, a visit is scheduled of the external review group. The group
will meet with the Vice-President, Academic, before commencing the review, in
order to discuss guidelines for the review and the report.
1,e. ur#/.4
Unde.4-
review
6.
The
reviVdes
will be informed that their reports will be made available in their
entirety
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nate Committees and Senate, and that the assessment of
individual personnel may raise questions of fairness and due process.
Normally such reports will include discussion of individual personnel matters
only where such matters are closely allied to the recommendations being made.
In such cases, where an assessment of an individual is included in the report,
the individual will be given the opportunity to respond.
7.
At the conclusion of its visit, the review group is expected to submit a detailed
report including a full and frank assessment of the mission, the various
activities, the quality of the program as a whole and of the various
specializations within it, and the resource allocation within the unit being
reviewed.
2
8.
The unit being reviewed will respond in a timely fashion to the report of the
external reviewers, and to any other matter related to its self-study report. The
Dean of the Faculty and the Dean of Graduate Studies will then prepare
assessments of the situation.
9.
The report of the review committee may, at the discretion of the Vice-President,
Academic, be forwarded to other appropriate Senate Committees for their
consideration and/or recommendations. Such committees might include the
Senate Committee on Graduate Studies and the Senate Committee on
Continuing Studies, for example.
10.
The responses of the Department, the Deans and other Senate committees,
together with the original self-study report and the report of the external review
group will be tabled for discussion at SCAP.
11.
Once SCAP has accepted these reports, they will constitute a framework for
planning and future developments by the unit involved. The unit will prepare a
plan of implementation, and SCAP, in turn, will use the review documents as a
basis for assessing proposals for new programs or courses.
12.
The review documents, along with the decisions taken by SCAP, are tabled in
Senate for information.
13.
One year after
Senate has received the review, a progress report by the unit
that was reviewed is to be brought to SCAP for acceptance and to Senate for
information.
14.
All documents related to the reviews are to be kept on file in the office of the
Vice-President, Academic, and are to be available to members of Senate.
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
.
?
VICE-PRESIDENT, ACADEMIC
?
BURNABY, BRITISH COLUMBIA
CANADA V5A 1S6
Telephone: (604) 291-4636
SAMPLE LETTER ?
April 30, 1990
To External Reviewers
I want to thank you for agreeing to be a member [chair] for the external review group for the
[Department, Faculty of of
?
]. By now, you should have heard from the secretary
of the [Department, Faculty of
?
1 and have arrived at a convenient schedule for your
visit to Simon Fraser University.
I have attached the Guidelines for the Implementation of External Reviews. You will note that
•
?
the review process begins with a period of self-study, and that a report is produced prior to your visit.
You will receive a copy of this report, and any other documentation consideredrelevant before you
arrive. Do not hesitate to contact either the [department, faculty, etc.] or myself if you wish to receive
additional information.
As the guidelines indicate, both you and the [department, faculty, etc.] are being asked to
assess the mission, activities, quality of the program and its specializations and matters of resource
allocation. This assessment will in all likelihood address organizational issues both within the
[department, faculty, etc.] and in a broader context within the university. In this connection, you might
also wish to know that Simon Fraser University is a signator to the Federal Contractors Employment
Equity Program, and that efforts at Simon Fraser are underway to assess and improve the quality of
teaching. Your comments upon these and other matters not directly addressed within the guidelines
are of course welcome.
In your conversations with the [department, faculty, etc.] arrangements will be made for the
schedule of meetings during your visit. Typically, in addition to the faculty members of the
Department, you should expect to meet with students (graduate and undergraduate), the Dean of
Graduate and of Continuing Studies and with members of the administration including the Faculty
Dean and the Vice-President, Academic. If there are other groups or individuals you want to see, do
not hesitate to let us know so that these meetings can also be scheduled.
The review process is an integral part of the intellectual life of the University and of
its planning
'for the future. We look forward to your visit and to your assessment.
Yours sincerely,
IS
4
It
IU'PENDlX
(Taken from.S.81-81)
CRITERIA FOR PROGRAM ASSESSMENT
It 18 expected that the
identification of the purposes
to which Simon Fraser will
direct its
efforts and energies
W
ill oncoUrage and facilitate the development of a number
of now and innovative programs.
Anoigning
priorities to
various proposals will be a difficult task.
Ranking should
be based partly on how a proposal
in measured against
the
following characteristics.
1.
The program has intrinsic academic excellence and
is 8O7T%ethiflJ this University
can expect to do well.
2.
The program substantiallY enriches the existing
teaching programs of
the University.
3.
The program builds
UOfl
existing programs and
resources
in
the University.
4.
The program anticipates provincial or national
needs.
5.
The program does not unnecessarily
duplicate
existing programs at other universities
in the
Province.
6.
The excellence of the program attracts
students
to the
University.
Existing programs should also be subject to periodic
review. Such reviews provide an opportunity to assess
individual
programs and to provide a basin for recommending
their expansion, curtailment or discontinuance.
