Program Review and Accreditation Reviews
APCS supports programs on campus by supplying supporting documentation as a support unit during reviews. APCS also supports Subject Specialists during Program Accreditation Reviews. See below for more details on how we can help!
Program Review
Program reviews, also called Academic Program Reviews or APRs, are the primary means by which the university evaluates the effectiveness of its units in teaching, research/creative activity, and service. The campus administration participates in the reviews and treats the process and the outcomes very seriously.
Documents from the reviews, including the self-study, reviewers’ reports, and follow-up discussions, are archived in the Office of the Provost and referred to frequently. Progress toward goals is evaluated with a Mid-Cycle Review (MCR).
Academic Program Review Schedule
These reviews are scheduled many years in advance.
Academic Program Review Process
The Libraries helps Academic Programs during their reviews by supplying supporting documentation to the reviews initial data pack and supplemental reports.
These reports are prepared by APCS based on the provided schedule. We use a template to generate reports.
Additionally, data on the cost of materials in recent years has been maintained in this PowerBI analysis of orders by subject. Before FY 2017, subject breakdowns of expenditures were maintained through separate Alma funds for each subject.
Contact APCS with any questions.
Accreditation Reviews
Many academic programs are accredited by professional associations. Accreditation is required in these fields for graduates to sit for licensing exams or to practice their profession. Graduating from an accredited program is a measure of excellence.
Accreditation at UTK can be broken into two groups: Institutional Accreditation and Programmatic Accreditation.
Institutional Accreditation is important for the institutions reputation and funding. UTK participates in SACSCOC and QEP. You can learn more about SACSCOC Accreditation on the the Institutional Effectiveness SharePoint.
Program Accreditation is important for graduates in certain fields where a professional association accreditation is necessary to practice their profession. For example ALA is the accrediting organization for the School of Information Sciences. You can learn more about Program Accreditation on the Institutional Effectiveness SharePoint.
Accreditation has varied schedules based on each program and their accrediting bodies.
Program Accreditation Support
Subject Specialists may be contacted by their subject area departments and colleges to meet with accrediting groups for Program Accreditation. Usually, an external site visitor for accreditation comes to review the program in person over the course of a few days. Often, a time is set-up with the subject specialist as a support unit for the program. These meetings are typically 30 minutes and questions vary by program. Some typical past questions include:
- How are resources for the program being funded?
- How are graduate students being supported?
Someone from APCS can attend these meetings with you! Please contact us at apcs@utk.edu when you know your meeting time.
You do not need to bring any documentation with you unless specifically requested. APCS can help you with this.