Institutional Effectiveness

What is Institutional Effectiveness?

Institutional Effectiveness is a continuous cycle for planning, assessing, analyzing and improving processes, programs, and services that support the University’s mission and vision. Assessment at the institution builds its capacity to inform and evaluate change through data-driven decision making. The process of Institutional Effectiveness at Touro University and its member schools is indicative of the institutions commitment to continuous improvement guided by a vision for the future.

This effort is achieved through:

Collecting, analyzing, and distributing high quality institutional research.
Consulting with departments, programs, and schools on research projects to insure legitimacy and rigor of data.
Coordinating a comprehensive system of Program Reviews that contribute to the mission and strategic goals of the System and its member schools.
Providing guidance and data support for student learning outcomes assessment.
Guiding and facilitating the process of regional and programmatic / specialized accreditation.
Ensuring that policy decisions are made with information and research gained from routine assessment.
Supporting university strategic planning and its implementation.

Institutional Effectiveness is comprised of:

1. Institutional Data

Institutional data in all forms is a strategic asset of the TUS. As such, the management of, and access to, data is critical to the management of the institution. – A data element is considered institutional data if it provides support to, and meets the needs of, units of the institution.

2. Learning Outcomes Assessment

At TUS, student learning outcomes specify what the students will be able to do and demonstrate when they have completed their education in a TUS course/program/school. The assessment process insures that students achieve these learning outcomes.

3. Program Review

The purpose of program review is to evaluate and enhance the quality of academic programs and student services/administrative units through a focus on program, unit and institutional missions, student learning outcomes, evidence-based decision making, and integration with institutional planning.

Program review addresses such questions as:

How is the institution progressing in its many phases?
What is the quality of its programs and units?
What are the institution’s strengths and weaknesses
Where is there room for improvement and growth?
What more can we know about the institution and its divisions?

4. Strategic Planning

TUS member schools engage in thoughtful, data-informed and effective planning, that utilizes the SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis) model for identifying and analyzing the internal and external factors that can have an impact on the viability of TUS and its member schools.

The university and individual school strategic planning committees seek representation from faculty, administration, staff, students, alumni, and the community, as well as advisory boards in the planning process. In this way, the resultant Strategic plans are a product of the input from stakeholders who are responding to important institutional issues and concerns.

This kind of process leads to dynamic and comprehensive strategic plans that provide vision for the future.

5. Accreditation

The goal of accreditation is to ensure that education provided by institutions of higher education meets acceptable levels of quality. Accreditation in higher education is a collegial process based on self and peer assessment. Its purpose is the improvement of academic quality and public accountability. This quality control process occurs in a continuous cycle. All TUS member schools and programs are currently accredited.