Policy for Assessment and Review of Academic Programs and Units
1. This policy formalizes university-wide principles for
the assessment and review of academic programs and units within a standard
framework.
2. The purpose of the policy is to establish consistency
at the University so that:
- New program and unit proposals undergo internal
assessment before submission to governance for approval in order to ensure
their academic quality and merit are fully developed and documented.
- Existing programs and units are reviewed on a regular
basis in order to ensure their academic quality and merit.
- Whether for proposed or existing programs and units,
internal assessments and reviews ensure that the programs and units are aligned
with the objectives of the University as specified within the Statement of
Institutional Purpose and thereby advance the mission of the University.
- Through the processes of internal assessment and review,
a sound basis of information is provided in order for approval decisions or
recommendations for improvement to be made. Both processes must address the
questions of what is being done well, what is not being done well, and how the
program or unit will compare or compares to the best in its field among
international peer institutions. For the University of Toronto as a whole,
those peer institutions comprise the first rank of public research universities
in the whole. For any given program or unit, the relevant peers may be drawn
from a top tier that includes private as well as public institutions.
- The assessment or review of an academic program and/or unit
entails a review of the academic unit(s), and vice versa. The quality of
the scholarship of the professoriate and students, and the degree to which that
scholarship is brought to bear in teaching, are the foundations of academic
excellence. More generally, all of the factors that contribute to collegial and
scholarly life--academic and administrative complement, research and scholarly
activity, infrastructure, governance, etc.--bear on the quality of academic
programs and units and the broad educational experience of students. Reviews
are intended to help ensure and improve quality in all of these aspects.
3. This policy incorporates (within Appendix A) and
replaces the existing University Policy Accountability Framework for Reviews
of Academic Programs and Units.
1. This Policy applies to submissions of internal
assessments of proposed new academic programs and units and reviews of existing
programs and units.
2. For the purpose of this Policy, a "program"
is defined as an identified set and sequence of courses within an area of
study, which is completed in full or partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the granting of an undergraduate, second-entry or graduate degree. This
Policy applies to all such programs to which resources are dedicated.
3. For the purposes of this Policy, academic unit is
defined by Section 1(l)(a) of the University of Toronto Act 1971, amended in
1978: an "academic unit" means University College and a college,
faculty, school, institute, department or other academic division of the
University so designated by the Governing Council.
4. This Policy applies to reviews of existing programs and
units commissioned by academic administrators at the University of Toronto to aid them in discharging their responsibilities of academic leadership.
Reviews of academic programs by
external bodies form part of collegial self-regulatory systems to ensure that
mutually agreed-upon threshold standards of quality are maintained in new and
existing programs. Such reviews may serve different purposes than those
commissioned by the University. In conducting a review of a program or unit,
external reviewers should be presented, where appropriate, with any
non-University commissioned reviews (for example, professional accreditation or
Ontario Council on Graduate Studies) completed since the last review of the
program or unit.
Where possible, the University process
should aim to streamline the review process by assessing the alignment of
mandates of externally and internally commissioned reviews and supplementing
documentation as necessary.
1. Administrative procedures for the application and
process of the internal assessment of proposed new academic programs and units
will be set by the Office of the Provost, within the document Guidelines for
Assessment of Divisional Submissions, and reported for information to
Governing Council. The Provostial Guidelines incorporate and replace Section
III of the Guidelines for Divisional Submissions (approved by the
Committee on Academic Policy and Programs on October 23, 2002).
2. Administrative procedures for the application and
process of reviews of existing academic programs and units will be set by the
Office of the Provost, within the document Guidelines for Review of Academic
Programs and Units, and reported for information to Governing Council. The Guidelines
for Review will include procedures for the application of the reviews, the
process by which reviews will be conducted, the content of the reviews and
administrative response, as well as the circulation of any reports and
submission to governance.
3. Authority for periodically revising and ensuring
implementation of both the procedural Guidelines is delegated to the Office of
the Provost. Any changes to the Guidelines will be presented to Governing
Council for information.
1. New Programs
Internal assessment of proposed new
programs and units is part of the procedure of submission to governance.
Proposal assessment is a critical process that ensures the quality and merit of
the proposal is fully developed before entering governance so that appropriate
decisions can be made by Governing Council as to whether the program or unit
should be established.
2. Existing Programs and Units
Reviews are important mechanisms of
accountability. Academic administrators are accountable for the discharge of
their responsibilities through a line of accountability that reaches from
chairs and directors to deans and principals to the Provost to the President
and ultimately to University governance. As part of this structure of
accountability, governors have a responsibility to ensure that appropriate
mechanisms for reviewing academic programs and units with a view to ensuring
and improving their quality are in place. The Accountability Framework for
Review of Academic Programs and Units was approved by the Executive
Committee of the Governing Council in 1999 and is incorporated into the current
document as Appendix A.