section three: faculty details
- what does the faculty seek to achieve for itself and the discipline?
- rationale for the faculty:
- mission, key aims and purposes of the faculty, how these are determined, and how these align themselves to the university’s plans, and national and international trends
- what does the faculty seek to achieve for the university?
- what does the faculty seek to achieve for the wider community?
- what are the specific objectives of the faculty?
- how the faculty aligns itself to the university mission
- meeting students’ and stakeholders’ needs
- what are the aims that are geared towards quality assurance?
- faculty‘s role in advancing the state of the field or discipline
- how does the faculty know that its aims, goals, purposes and objectives have been achieved?
- medium of instruction
- equity principles
- commentary on how issues of employability and career development are taken into account in the design and delivery of the faculty’s programs
- how are new and modified programs designed, approved and brought into effect?
- curriculum content of the faculty: program by program:
- quality of the curriculum
- coherence of the curriculum within and across programs (and, where appropriate, other faculties)
- clarity and guidance for students
- academic quality and integrity of the faculty
- how recently the curricula and programs have been reviewed or amended
- how does the faculty assure itself of the continuing relevance of its programs and their contents?
- how does the faculty assure itself that the highest academic quality is ensured in its programs, to meet the needs of stakeholders?
- how is input from different stakeholders and partners gathered and used on the programs in the faculty?
- structure of the faculty and its contributing programs
- communication of organizing principles of the faculty
- how the faculty meets students’ different needs, abilities, rates of learning, and learning strategies and styles
- accelerated learning on the faculty’s programs
- student learning in the faculty:
- provision for, and suitability of, learning opportunities for students on different programs in the faculty
- quality of student learning
- active student learning on the programs and engagement in them
- students’ higher order thinking and application in the programs
- opportunities for, and uptake of, internship
- student exchange arrangements
- e-learning and blended learning, and the support for these (e.g. hardware, software, access, speed, stability of system)
- incorporation of new technologies for student learning
- collaborative and cooperative learning
- fieldwork
- depth and breadth of student learning
- strategies for ensuring maximum student participation and sustained success and high quality
- implementation and evolution of the faculty’s learning strategies and internal arrangements for reviewing these
- internal arrangements in the faculty for reviewing its provision of learning opportunities
- improvements/enhancements to the learning on the faculty’s programs over a specified period
- evaluation of the ways of judging, and the criteria for judging, how students progress through the faculty, and how this progression is supported, monitored and reviewed, from admission to graduation
- disciplinary procedures and appeals in the faculty
- staff development provided in the faculty, and the uptake and impact of these
- teaching in the faculty
- provision for, and quality of, teaching
- diversity and suitability of teaching strategies and processes
- guidance provided on teaching
- supervision of research students
- what core teaching competencies are there, how are they determined, and how do these relate to the faculty’s mission and for teaching and learning and to their programs and curricula?
- how, and how high, is the quality of teaching and learning, how are data gathered on this, and how are improvements made?
- evaluation of the teaching in the faculty and how it supports students in their achievement on programs
- internal arrangements in the faculty for reviewing teaching
- improvements/enhancements to the teaching on the faculty’s programs over a specified period
- staff development provided for developing teaching in the faculty
- relationship between teaching and research
- strategies and processes for improving teaching, and the impact of these
- strategies and processes for staff development of teaching, and the impact of these
- is any of the teaching outsourced, and, if so, how is the quality assured?
- research
- provision for, and quality of, research and publication
- diversity and research
- support for research and publication
- funded and non-funded research in the faculty
- research teams, individuals, their work and its impact
- functioning of research centres
- evaluation of the research and publication in the faculty. how does the faculty evaluate the quality of its research?
- what national, international and cross-institutional research is undertaken in the faculty?
- range and coherence of research in the faculty
- percentage of full-time and part-time staff who are active in research
- internal arrangements in the faculty for reviewing research, publication and their development
- alignment of the research to the faculty’s mission and goals
- improvements/enhancements to the research in the faculty over a specified period
- relationship between teaching and research
- strategies and methods for improving research and publication, and the impact of these; staff development provided for developing research and publication in the faculty and the impact of these
- study leave and its uptake
- provision and support for encouraging excellence in research and publication at local, national and international levels
- research training and knowledge transfer provided in the faculty and by the university, for whom, and the uptake, impact and effectiveness of these
- dissemination of research to key communities
- research seminars and other related programs in the faculty
- research evaluation and productivity: how it is monitored, developed and its quality improved in the faculty
- how the support for research is evaluated, and how effective that support is
- how new research opportunities are identified and addressed
- resources for research in the faculty
- developing competencies for staff and students in research
- how staff and students are encouraged to undertake, report and disseminate research at local, national and international levels
- how a research culture and climate is developed and sustained in the faculty for staff and students
- how supervision of research is undertaken, how effective it is, and how this is evaluated and improved
- how staff and students are inducted into research
- what key services are provided by the faculty for research and its development, and how these are evaluated
- supervision
- provision for, and quality of, supervision
- support for supervision of research and research students
- supervisor training and development
- evaluation and review of the supervision arrangements and practices, and their effectiveness, in the faculty
- improvements/enhancements to the supervision arrangements and practices in the faculty over a specified period
- strategies for improving supervision arrangements, practices and quality, and the impact of these; staff development provided for developing supervision in the faculty and the impact of these
- resources for the faculty
- adequacy of resources for learning and student support in the faculty
- quality of resources and facilities
- physical space and requirements
- library, computing, media matters and new technologies
- how resources are used
- administrative and technical support in the faculty, for staff and students, and support personnel
- physical facilities: classrooms, laboratories, office space, tutorial rooms
- equipment and instruments, and equipment needs
- specialist/dedicated resources
- access by students to resources and equipment
- faculty costs for resources/equipment
- planned increases in resources
- health and safety in the faculty
- ethical matters relating to the work of the faculty
- student assessment and examination in the faculty, strategies for improving student assessment, and the impact of these, strategies for staff development on student assessment, and the impact of these
- marking, grading and confirmation
- communication of criteria to students for judging their work
- actual student outcomes and standards
- student outcomes and standards reached
- trends in examination results
- comparability of standards with other institutions
- comments of external examiners
- action taken by the faculty as a result of data on standards and achievements
- employment and career outcomes of the students
- feedback from former students and on their career destinations and post-graduation activities;
- surveys of employer satisfaction with the faculty’s graduates.
- external measures of success
- strategies for improving students’ achievement and standards, and the impact of these
- strategies for staff development to improve student outcomes, and the impact of these
- faculty evaluation
- annual faculty review
- peer review and assessment
- sharing of best practice
- benchmarking
- periodic review (how frequently and regularly, and by whom)
- plans for ongoing faculty review
- fitness for purpose and fitness of purposes of the kinds, criteria, contents, methods, comprehensiveness, rigour of faculty evaluation, and the clarity and suitability of these for the faculty
- regularity and frequency of faculty and program evaluation
- outcomes and impact of faculty evaluation on faculty and program development
- use made of faculty and program evaluations
- comprehensiveness and appropriacy of faculty reviews
- external and internal review
- strategies for improving faculty evaluation, and the impact of these
- strategies for staff development to improve faculty evaluation, and the impact of these
- how are data collected and used (and what data) for faculty development and improvement
- how does the faculty manage the organizational knowledge and information for transfer and sharing in the faculty (from, and to, staff, students and stakeholders)?
- what measures of academic performance does the faculty use?
how are measures of academic performance used for decision making, improvement and development, and to identify priorities and opportunities? - external review and quality assurance
- current strengths and weaknesses
- future directions
- key challenges and prospects
- key opportunities
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