Institutional Effectiveness & Quality Assurance

Department of the Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness & Quality Assurance

Reporting to the President, the Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness and Quality Assurance (VPIEQA) is the individual providing leadership that supports the College of Micronesia-FSM goals and strategic plan for institutional effectiveness and quality.  The VPIEQA provides leadership for and oversight of the Institutional Research and Planning Office (IRPO), Office of Development and Community Relations (ODCR), and Information Technology (IT).  The VPIEQA is a key contributor to policy development and implementation related to accreditation and quality assurance and simultaneously serves as the college’s accreditation liaison officer (ALO).

Department Minutes

Mission

Institutional Effectiveness & Quality Assurance assesses and supports the capacity and extent to which the college fulfills and maintains its mission; while fostering and embedding a college culture of sustainable continuous quality improvement at all institutional levels.  At the core of effectiveness and ongoing quality improvement is a focus on student learning and student success.  Leadership and guidance are provided to the college community to ensure accountability as accreditation and regulatory standards are understood and met, and/or exceeded at all times.

Strategic goals for delivering its mission:

• Lead, monitor, evaluate, and implements all college planning processes with broad-based participation and robust, self-reflective constituent dialogue.
• Lead, coordinate, and document systematic, ongoing assessment of all programs and student learning outcomes to inform changes necessary towards improving student learning.
• Generate comprehensive reports and communicate results of ongoing institutional assessments to inspire self-reflective constituent dialogue and ongoing quality improvement across the college.
• Communicate documented assessment results with quality assurance issues to relevant constituents to assure quality is maintained.
• Support institutional decision-making by providing timely quantitative and qualitative data to inform planning processes.
• Promote development of an evidence-based decision making culture for the college.
• Ensure, through planning processes, institutional resources are allocated to support student learning.
• Support student learning by providing quality IT services to students and the college community.
• Support institutional data through development and maintenance of a secure Student Information System (SIS) and integration of assessment software
• Establish and maintain effective communication and partnerships with community organizations, government agencies, state departments of education and other entities involved with COM-FSM programs and services, as it relates to accreditation and quality assurance.
• Promote fund-raising activities towards the COM-FSM Endowment fund.

Administrative Unit Outcomes (measureable expectations) for the VPIEQA for FY 2013:

• The Accreditation Liaison Officer (ALO) will provide comprehensive, useful information, in a user-friendly manner, to the college community through training activities on the accreditation process and COM-FSM accreditation status.
• IEQA through IRPO provides effective, timely responses and support to calls/emails for assistance with quantitative and qualitative data necessary to inform assessment, program reviews, and planning decisions.
• The ALO provides college-wide training on the ACCJC/WASC Rubrics for Evaluating Institutional Effectiveness with a focus on moving to “sustainable continuous quality improvement” for the rubric part III – Student Learning Outcomes.
• IEQA assesses institutional capacity and processes to identify gaps towards moving to and remaining on, the “sustainable continuous quality improvement” stage on all three of the ACCJC/WASC Rubrics for Evaluating Institutional Effectiveness.
• The ALO provides training to increase college employees’ awareness of the college mission, values, and strategic plan goals; and employees can offer specific examples of application within their respective areas of responsibility.