Accreditation | Compliance | Institutional Effectiveness |
October,
2002
Mission
The
mission of Institutional Strategy and Analysis (UPA) is to help
decision makers make informed
decisions.�
�
Through planning, we help the university and its
constituent parts articulate strategies that address critical challenges
and exploit opportunities, so that decisions
are consistent with an overall vision.
�
Through institutional research, we provide information
and analysis, so that decisions
are based on the facts.
�
Through evaluation, we help the university and
its parts determine and demonstrate the effectiveness of their initiatives,
programs, and services, so that decisions
reflect what really works. UPA's
clients include NC State's executive officers, deans, department heads,
faculty, and students; UNC-General Administration, Board of Governors,
and North Carolina legislators; federal agencies and accreditors; and
other universities, the media, and the general public. � UPA
is the source of official university reports on student and personnel
data, such as:� admissions, enrollment, academic progress,
student interests and satisfaction, and faculty productivity and workload.�� UPA also designs and facilitates strategic,
compact, and enrollment planning processes; facilitates and supports
program evaluation and assessment; and monitors the university's progress
and achievements through benchmarking and peer comparisons.� Every year, UPA prepares about 150 files and
reports, including about 50 mandated by UNC-GA, and responds to more
than 1,000 ad hoc requests for information and consultation. Monitoring
UPA's Effectiveness
Because
our mission is to help our customers make informed decisions, we monitor
our effectiveness by asking our customers whether our products and services
have actually improved the quality of their decisions.�
More specifically, we use customer feedback to find out if our
support has been useful, timely, and accurate.�
In
the early 1990s UPA assembled an extensive menu of alternative evaluation
strategies ranging from a customer survey to an audit performed by the
Office of Internal Audit.� Throughout that decade UPA implemented several
items from that menu, choosing to vary its evaluation strategy each
year according to current needs, rather than using a consistent evaluation
tool every year:�
�
focus groups with primary clients, including UNC-GA, Provost's
Office, and selected NC State administrators (1994).
�
survey of Integrated Departmental Database recipients (1995).
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survey of department heads about the value
and use of student surveys (1998).
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a log of ad hoc projects that allows us to monitor what questions
clients are asking, when, and how long it takes us to respond (1998).
�
interviews with clients about the functionality of our web
site (1999). The
major findings and use of these assessments included the following:
Evaluating Progress Toward
Goals Another way of monitoring UPA's effectiveness
is by determining whether we meet the objectives set forth in our compact
plans. Particularly noteworthy are compact
initiatives associated with improving UPA efficiency.� Chancellor Fox asked UPA to eliminate some
of our routine reports, and we used feedback from our 2001 customer
survey to identify which reports were least used by our customers.� We eliminated several routine reports and the
transfer student survey.� 2001 and 2002 UPA survey instruments 2001 and 2002 UPA survey results 2000 compact plan and progress
reports (May 2000, November 2000
) 2001 compact plan and progress report
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