SiMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
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MEMORA
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SENATE
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Procedures
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Graduate
Programs and Reassessment of
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N.. ,vans .... -...Secretary. ....... ..........................
Senate Committee
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Graduate Studies
Date ...... ..... Decemb.er, ...
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Information.
For the information of Senate, it is to be noted
that the Senate Committee on Graduate Studies
approved Paper EGS-41, as attached, - at its
meeting on December 9, 1969.
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EGS-41
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(As approved cy the
Senate Committee on
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Graduate Stuuies,
December 9, 1969)
A PROPOSAL TO THE
SENATE COMMITTEE ON
GRADUATE
STUDIES
ON
PROCEDURES FOR INTRODUCTION OF NEW GRADUATE PROGRAMS AND REASSESSMENT
OF EXISTING GRADUATE PROGRAMS
by
S. Stratton
December, 1969
INDEX
• Page 1
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Introduction
Pages 1-5 ?
Procedures of the Appraisals Committee
Page 5
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Interpretive Clauses
Pages 7-9
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Terms of Reference for Consultants
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I. INTRODUCTION
Many of the Graduate Programs at S.F.U. have been in operation
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since
1965, others have come into existence in more recent years.
It is
proposed that henceforth all new graduate programs be appraised by
an
Appraisals Committee before being approved by Senate. It is also
proposed that existing programs, including those that are approved
subsequent to adoption of this paper, be subject to periodical review
by an Appraisals Committee.
Details of the proposal follow:
II. APPRAISALS COMMITTEE
The Senate Committee on Graduate Studies shall establish
a Standing Committee to be known as the Appraisals Committee.
1. ?
Composition:
a. ?
i. ?
Three members of the Senate Committee on
Graduate Studies, one representing each Faculty.
ii.
Three faculty members, one from each of the three
Faculties.
iii.
Dean of Graduate Studies - Chairman.
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b. ?
The Executive Committee of the Senate Committee on
Graduate Studies shall serve as the Nominating Committee
for membership on the Appraisals Committee.
C. ?
The Senate Committee on Graduate Studies shall-hold the
main election for the Appraisals Committee at its January
meeting.
d.
Except in the first instance when the term of office shall
be three for one year, and three for two years, the term of
office of members of the Appraisals Committee shall be two
calendar years.
e. A
quorum shall consist of four faculty members.
Note: Where "Committee" appears hereafter, without further
specification it shall be construed to mean "The
Dean of Graduate Studies in consultation with the
Appraisals Committee".
2. ?
Functions:
a.
To evaluate and appraise new graduate programs.
b.
To evaluate and appraise each new program within
five years from the date of its acceptance.
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II. 2. c.
To evaluate and appraise existing graduate programs at the
request of the Senate Committee on Graduate Studies as and
when necessary but certainly once within a ten year period.
d.
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To report on its appraisals to the Senate Committee on
Graduate Studies.
III. PROCEDURE FOR APPRAISAL OF NEW PROGRANS
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1. ?
General regulations
a.
A
Department, acting through its Chairman, will submit
the proposal for a new graduate program through the Faculty
Graduate Studies Committee to the Appraisals Committee.
b.
After proper procedures have been followed (see subsection
111.2-4) the Committee will report to the Senate Committee
on Graduate Studies whether the program should be approved,
rejected or amended in any way. The Committee may recommend
that a program commence at a specific future date, the
postponement to be not more than two full academic years.
Reasons for the Committee's recommendation shall be included
in the report.
C. ?
The Senate Committee on Graduate Studies will normally
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accept or reject the report of the Appraisals Committee
with the option of referring the report back to the Committee.
d.
The decision of the Senate Committee on Graduate Studies shall
be communicated to the Department concerned.
e.
Members of the Committee shall not vote in the Committee when
programs of their own department are being assessed.
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2. ?
Documentation for the Appraisals Committee:
When requesting approval of a new program, the Department
will submit a report which will include:
a.
List of faculty members with their areas of specialization
and proposed future hiring.
b.
Curriculum vitae and publication records of all staff
members to be associated with the program, with an
indication of each individual's relevant experience
including thesis supervision, and amounts of research
grants held by each individual.
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2. ?
c. ?
experience of the department facu:Ly in advanced work and,
where available, information on the subsequent progress of
students who have already been awarded the Master's degree;
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present and proposed undergraduate and other commitments of
the department, showing individual teaching loads where
possible;
e.
present library resources and intended commitments for at least
five years, including a statement by the Chief Librarian of
the University;
f.
laboratory facilities and research equipment;
g.
availability of research funds;
h.
an estimate of graduate student enrolment;
I.
adequacy of space for student and staff offices;
J.
proposed regulations for the program under the headings:
i.
ii.
V.
admission standards
courses required
examinations required
thesis and language requirements
residence regulations;
(care should be taken to conform with the University regulations
on these matters)
k. ?
courses available in the department and proposed new courses,
showing which courses, if any, are also open to undergraduates;
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any innovation as to subject matter or treatment;
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strength of collateral and supporting departments in the
university;
n. ?
proposal of action for development of the program.
3. ?
a. ?
The Committee shall review this report and, unless it
considers further discussions with the department to be
necessary, it shall appoint at least one and up to three
consultants who are outstanding scholars in the field of
study being proposed. Normally, at least two of the
consultants shall not e from the universities within the
Province of British Columbia. The consultants may visit
the Department.
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111.3. ?
b.
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The department may suggest a list of nattes from which suitable
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are
selected by the Committee. If the Committee
wants consultant(s) not on the list it will ascertain if the
department has objections to the individual(s) proposed. The
Committee's choice of-consultant(s) shall he final.
C. ?
The consultant(s) shall submit individual reports in
writing to the Committee, giving their appraisals of the
strengths and weaknesses of the departmert and their judgment
on
the advisability of the department undertaking to offer the
new program. The consultants may indicate those parts of their
reports which are to be held confidential. Non-confidential
parts of the reports may be released at the discretion of the
Appraisals Committee.
d.
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The Dean of Graduate Studies is empowered to authorize up to
$2,000 for the costs of an appraisal. Partial fees may be
established by the Dean of Graduate Studies if the procedure
is not completed or if a reappraisal is conducted soon after a
full appraisal has been carried out.
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4. ?
On the basis of consultant(s) report(s) the Committee shall make
its
recommendation to the Senate Committee on Graduate Studies.
Before doing so it may still seek such consultation inside and
outside the department as it considers necessary.
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IV. .1.
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A new program shall be reviewed within five years after
its
inception. For such a review the department will submit a
report which will include:
a.
list of faculty members with their areas of specialization;
b.
up-to-date curriculum vitae and publication records of the
faculty members associated with the program, indicating
each individual's relevant experience including thesis
supervision and the amounts of his research grants;
C.
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current areas of specialiazation within the department;
d.
current graduate student enrolment;
e.
a
report on laboratory facilities ,and in consultation with the
Librarian ,library resources;
f.
number of students graduated from the program;
g.
the current regulations for the program;
h.
courses available;
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comment on how the plans forecast in the original submission
have been followed or departed from.
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IV. 2.
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After review of the report, the Committee may appoint one or more
consultants in the manner specified in Section III.3.a, who may
be
the original consultants. The consultant: may visit the
department, and will submit a report in writing to the Committee
recommending the retention, discontinuance or modification of
the program. The consultant's report shall be handled in the same
manner as identified in Section III.3.c.
V.
Existing graduate programs will be reviewed at least once every ten
years according to the procedure outlined in Section IV.
VI.
No clause in these procedures shall be suspended or amended unless
notice of motion has been given at a previous meeting of the Senate
Committee on Graduate Studies or is placed on the agenda of the current
meeting, unless said suspension or amendment is passed by at least
two-thirds of the members present at the said meeting.
VII.These Regulations shall take effect immediately after approval by the
Senate Committee on Graduate Studies.
VIlE. INTERPRETIVE CLAUSES
1.
a.
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It is stressed that approval is not similar to the "accreditation"
of certain professional bodies. There are no predetermined
u4ntitative measurements, course requirements, etc.; the
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Appraisals Committee will be guided in its decision on the?
opinions of the consultants.
b.
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It is each separate program that is appraised, not Faculties
or Departments.
2.
Department: "Department" shall be read to include any faculty
group responsible for the operationrüf a"program", including
institutes, centres, inter-disciplinary committees and similar
organizations.
3.
Program:
a.
The word "program" of a "department" is used to signify
all
aspects of the graduate undertaking of the department,
including the actual and planned staff, extent and limitations
of areas of research specialization, research facilities,
and curriculum. The appraisal shall embrace all factors which
must be considered to establish that the program will be
academically sound, and only those factors.
b.
The area of work covered by a program is not necessarily coincident
with the complete range of instructional and research fields
for which a department (or other administrative organ) is
responsible. Usually the area of a program is more restricted
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than the whole of the discipline associated with a department.
If a department whose offerings has been approved in (or hitherto
confined to) specific field wishes to undertake Ph.!). work in
a further field of specialization, the department should :eek
the decision of the Senate Counnittec on Graduate Studies as to
whether an appraisal. is necessary.
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VIII.
4. Until such time as an Appraisal Committee is established the
functions of that Committee will be served by the Executive
Committee of the Senate Committee on Graduate Studies, and until
a Dean of Graduate Studies is appointed the Academic Vice-President
shall serve as the Dean of 'Graduate Studies.
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IX. TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR CONSULTANTS
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1. Consultants shall familiarize themselves with the -
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appraisal regulations and procedures of the Senate Committee on
Graduate Studies. If difficulties or uncertainties in inter-
pretation arise, they should consult with the Dean of Graduate Studies.
2.
The consultants should study the university's submision before
visiting the campus, so that they can decide which points they wish
to explore during their visit.
3.
The subsequent action of the Appraisals Committee will be based
essentially on the consultants' reports. It is therefore of utmost
importance to realize that what is needed from each consultant is
a firm opinion, as a distinguished scholar in the field, as to whether
or not the department can proceed with graduate work and offer an
academically respectable program of sound training and research
challenge to its prospective students. Many factors of course
enter into the consultants' opinion of the ability of a department to
undertake a graduate program. There are a few factors on which
consultants, working for the Ontario Council on Graduate Studies
have sought guidance so frequently that it may be desirable to
comment on them here.
a.
Is there an accepted philosophy of course work, general
examinations, languages, etc. against which a program should
be measured? The answer is no, since wise innovation is to be
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encouraged. Presumably, each consultant will have his own point
of view on these matters and he should use as his crieterion for
approval the answer he would give to the question "Will the students workin
in this program achieve the attitudes, levels of competence and breadth of
knowledge that are generally associated with the holders of this degree
in this discipline?"
b.
How important is it to assess the abilities of the individual
faculty members in research and in graduate class work and
supervision? This is probably the single most significant factor
to be considered.
c.
Can a number be stated which is the smallest permissible number of
faculty members for a program? No, because this will vary from
discipline to discipline and from proposal to proposal. But, in
general, it would require careful justification to show that a
Master's program could be undertaken with fewer than four staff
members qualified (in the opinion of the consultant) to work at the
graduate level.
d.
What is the responsibility of the consultant in connection with
enrollment estimates? First it must be repeated that the appraisal
procedure is not a planning procedure, and that the questions asked
of the consultant bear only on the academic standards of the proposal.
If a consultant considers it important, for academic reasons, that a
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department contain a certain number of students and staff in order to
do good graduate work, he will want to concern himself with the
reliability of the enrollment estimates.
e. What are the library standards for a graduate program? It
is hard to provide a decisive answer, but a good guide line, for
library-oriented disciplines, is that a student should have
available in his university's library the great bulk of the material
needed for graduate course work and for preparation of Ph.D. general
examiniations. It is recognized that when he begins dissertation
research he will need to consult books and source material in other
locations, and facilities for him to do so should be available.
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f. How definite should the consultant's findings be? There are at least
three possible findings which the Appraisals Committee is allowed to
make: approval, approval with delay, disapproval. The delay cannot
exceed two years; this finding suggests itself when there is no
reasonable doubt that a department, not yet ready, will have achieved
the necessary strength to begin the program at a foreseeable time.
If this situation cannot be clearly foreseen, a negative finding
would be desirable; in such a case a fresh appraisal can be made
when the department feels it is ready. It is helpful if the
consultant does specifically recommend one of these findings. It
is most important that he make very clear any conditions or
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assumptions on which he bases his recommendation. For example,
if the consultant feels that a program ought not to begin without
an
additional senior appointment, he should so state, even if the
submission from the department includes such a planned appointment,
for it might become evident that the appointment could not be
made even though it appeared highly likely at the time the consultant
reported. It is also most important that consultants make their
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reasoning clear, for it is not infrequent that two consultants
recommend different findings and the Committee must then weight
their reports and opinions carefully.
g How "ready" should the department be? It is not necessary that
there be in existence all the strength needed for the steady
operation of the program. A program normally develops in staff and
facilities during the first few years. It is necessary that, on the
date recommended for approval, there be in the department the
necessary minimum strength to provide an academically sound experience
for students beginning at that time.
4.
It is also important, both for the Committee and for the department
to express full and frankly the reasons for the conclusion. The
reports may be confidential (Section Iv.3) and their value is directly
proportional to their frankness and completeness.
5.
The consultant is also asked to express any views he may hold on the
proposed curriculum or academic regulations of the program; these will
be of value in guiding the department.
6.
It would be most helpful if the consultants were to arrange their
reports so as to comment on the strengths and seaknesscs of the
department and its adequacy for graduate work under disc::cte headings.
If a consultant's overall report is not favourable, he is requested to
indicate for the guidance of the department what weaknesses or short-
comings he feels should first be dealt with to develop the program.
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7.
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It is
suggested that consultants arrange the details of thc visits
to the compus through the Dean of Graduate Studies, and that they
consult with that official during th'.ir visit. It is expected that
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departments will make available to the consultant all necessary
facilities to examine the department (its staff, its equipment, its
plans) and also to interview other university officials, such as deans,
the librarian, and chairmen of related departments, if the consultant
feels it desirable.
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