Academic program reviews are an essential component of institutional and programmatic accreditation processes. Program reviews allow for continuous fostering of academic excellence and quality improvements of academic programs, thereby supporting Winthrop's strategic goal to enhance the quality of the student experience. The review process ensures that Winthrop University preserves its reputation for crafting and maintaining high-quality academic programs consistent with emerging best practices and affirms that program priorities are aligned with and support the achievement of the institution’s mission, goals, and strategic priorities.
Academic program reviews assist in the long-term planning efforts of the faculty, deans, and Provost, as a thorough review identifies a program's comparative advantage within the discipline, its strengths, and its opportunities. In preparing the Self-Study, reviewing data, and examining evidentiary documents, the review process affords the program an opportunity to
review policies, practices, procedures, and records to improve its operations,
clarify goals, assess goal achievement, review program resources, identify concerns, and suggest potential changes, and
articulate its needs and justify its requests for program enhancements.
Academic program reviews are an essential component in demonstrating Winthrop University’s compliance with SACSCOC Principles of Accreditation (PDF - 959 KB), specifically those that address institutional effectiveness.
Core Requirement 7.1 – The institution engages in ongoing, comprehensive, and integrated research-based planning and evaluation processes that (a) focus on institutional quality and effectiveness and (b) incorporate a systematic review of institutional goals and outcomes consistent with its mission.
Standard 8.2a – The institution identifies expected outcomes, assesses the extent to which it achieves these outcomes, and provides evidence of seeking improvements based on analysis of the results for student learning outcomes for each of its educational programs.
