Report on the Results of the Faculty Accreditation Survey

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Report on the Results of the Faculty Accreditation Survey

Fall 2016

Prepared by the Office of Data Analytics and Institutional Research (DAIR)

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E XECUTIVE S UMMARY

I

NTRODUCTION

Every ten years, the University is subject to a review of its accreditation by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE). This will include conducting a basic comprehensive self-‐

study, in which, AUC will evaluate every aspect of its programs and services, governing and supporting structures, resources, and educational outcomes in relation to the institution’s mission and goals. This model will engage the community and will place an emphasis on how institutional goals are aligned with its mission. It will also provide opportunities for institutional improvement based on the ongoing assessment.

This survey was developed by the Office of Data Analytics and Institutional Research (DAIR) in coordination with the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) Accreditation Steering Committee. The MSCHE Accreditation Steering Committee will incorporate the data collected from this survey into the self-‐study of AUC as part of the MSCHE reaccreditation process.

M

ETHODOLOGY

The survey instrument was sent out on October 11

^th

, 2016 to all AUC full-‐time faculty members.

Three survey email reminders were sent on October 18, 25 and 31, 2016,

and the survey remained accessible until Nov 1, 2016. Out of the population sample of four hundred and twenty-‐eight (428), one hundred and eighty-‐two (182) responses were received, for a participation rate of 42%.

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R ESULTS

Q

UESTION

1:

F

REEDOM OF

E

XPRESSION

Please indicate your level of agreement with the following statements Answer Options

Strongly

Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly

Disagree Rating

Average Response Count

My intellectual property is protected and respected at AUC.

70 54 21 8 1 4.19 154

Within the context of the subject matter of the courses I teach, I feel comfortable expressing my opinions or beliefs in the classroom.

69 57 14 12 2 4.16 154

Within the context of the subject matter of the courses I teach, I am comfortable introducing students to ideas and opinions that may be quite different from those they were raised to believe and value.

53 72 18 10 1 4.08 154

AUC does not unjustifiably hinder my research endeavors.

71 49 23 8 3 4.15 154

AUC is a tolerant

workplace, regardless of one’s background, ideas, or opinions.

57 56 22 14 5 3.95 154

answered question

154

skipped question

3

3.95 4.08

4.15 4.16 4.19

AUC is a tolerant workplace, regardless of one’s background, ideas, or opinions.

Within the context of the subject ma[er of the courses I teach, I am comfortable introducing AUC does not unjus\ﬁably hinder my research

endeavors.

Within the context of the subject ma[er of the courses I teach, I feel comfortable expressing my My intellectual property is protected and respected

at AUC.

Freedom of Expression

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Q

UESTION

2:

U

NIVERSITY

P

OLICIES AND

P

RACTICES

Please indicate your level of agreement with the following statements.

Answer Options Strongly

AUC’s policies and practices for

hiring faculty are fair and impartial.

27 60 35 26 7 3.48 155

evaluating faculty are fair and impartial.

18 61 38 28 10 3.32 155

promoting faculty are fair and impartial.

19 53 42 33 8 3.27 155

The student population reflects an admission policy that values diversity.

27 48 43 23 14 3.33 155

The University’s conflict of interest policy is clearly stated and covers all possible cases.

17 41 65 21 8 3.25 152

The University’s grievance policy is clearly stated and outlined.

32 46 42 24 11 3.41 155

I am aware of changes in program structure (offering new programs or substantively changing an existing program).

36 65 36 13 4 3.75 154

AUC demonstrates a clearly articulated and transparent

governance structure.

16 39 48 27 25 2.96 155

The present

governance structure strengthens

accountability, fairness, and transparency across the institution.

16 30 49 32 27 2.84 154

answered question 155 skipped question 2

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Q

^UESTION

3:

U

NIVERSITY

M

^ISSION

The university's mission is

clearly integrated in its operations.

27 64 34 21 9 3.51 155

I am aware of changes in institutional vision, mission and strategic plans.

36 70 31 11 7 3.75 155

There is a clear link between university and

department/program goals.

27 58 34 27 9 3.43 155

Assessment results (program assessment, self-‐study and accreditation reports, etc.) are

communicated to me regularly.

29 50 38 30 8 3.40 155

Information on institution-‐wide assessments and accreditation is fully disclosed to the whole community.

30 44 53 21 7 3.45 155

2.84 2.96

3.25 3.27 3.32 3.33 3.41

3.48 3.75

The present governance structure strengthens AUC demonstrates a clearly ar\culated and The University’s conﬂict of interest policy is clearly AUC’s policies and prac\ces for promo\ng faculty AUC’s policies and prac\ces for evalua\ng faculty The student popula\on reﬂects an admission policy The University’s grievance policy is clearly stated AUC’s policies and prac\ces for hiring faculty are I am aware of changes in program structure

University Policies and Procedures

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3.40 3.43 3.45 3.51

3.75

Assessment results (program assessment, self-‐

study and accredita\on reports, etc.) are There is a clear link between university and

department/program goals.

Informa\on on ins\tu\on-‐wide assessments and accredita\on is fully disclosed to the whole The university's mission is clearly integrated in its

opera\ons.

I am aware of changes in ins\tu\onal vision, mission and strategic plans.

University

Mission

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Q

UESTION

4:

A

CADEMICS

Assessment results in your program/department are used to:

Assist students in improving their

learning 45 62 30 14 4 3.84 155

Improve pedagogy

and curriculum 44 69 21 16 4 3.86 154

Review and revise academic program

and support services 45 62 29 16 3 3.84 155

Plan, conduct and support a range of professional development activities

32 48 47 23 5 3.51 155

Plan and budget for the provision of academic programs and services

23 58 48 19 7 3.46 155

Improve key

indicators of student success, such as retention,

graduation, transfer and placement rates

28 54 54 14 5 3.55 155

3.46 3.51

3.55 3.84 3.84 3.86

Plan and budget for the provision of academic programs and services

Plan, conduct and support a range of professional development ac\vi\es

Improve key indicators of student success, such as reten\on, gradua\on, transfer and placement rates

Assist students in improving their learning Review and revise academic program and support

services

Improve pedagogy and curriculum

Academics

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Q

UESTION

5:

E

DUCATIONAL

E

FFECTIVENESS

Disagree N/A Rating

The students in my classes communicate effectively in class discussions and oral presentations.

56 64 18 10 4 2 3.99 154

The learning experience at AUC helps prepare students for successful careers.

55 61 19 11 3 4 3.93 153

If you do not agree, please explain specifically the major impediments to effective

communication. 27

P

LEASE EXPLAIN

.

F

ACULTY RESPONSES

:

• The job of a liberal arts institution is not vocational training. We are helping them learn to think critically and be the best they can be at whatever they do.

• majority of students are uninterested in critical thinking

• Teaching environment is geared towards appeasing the lowest common dominator of the students without paying much attention to improving competitiveness, deligince and

improving the quality of their diploma. This resulted in the AUC not being considered as one of the top 15 universities in the Arab world. Inefficient admin due to continuous cuts and inability to retain high quality administrators contribure strongly to ineffective communication.

• Many of AUC students don't have good command of Arabic.

3.93 3.99

The learning experience at AUC helps prepare students for successful careers.

The students in my classes communicate eﬀec\vely in class discussions and oral presenta\ons.

EducaWonal EﬀecWveness

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• The larger context of teaching which discourages critical thinking, writing and university level debates in classes

• A considerable portion of my students insists in communication in arabic and are poor communicators using English.

• Students overall have very weak critical thinking skills, and many are not very interested in issues that affect our communities and world. Their speaking skills reflect this.

• There are problems in their ability to express a substantial thought.

• Students need to have more critical thinking and communicate and present their ideas in an engaging way

• Students are fueled up with grading and not content; and they lobby aggressively towards that goal; and sometimes the system allows it to happen.

• The problem right now is a wide range of language ability.

• Language barriers, poor spoken English

• I agree; however, operating professionally in Arabic language when they are in the real world is often a major impediment.

• poor English language skills

• Most students language skills are extremely poor

• Most students are just interested in their number of points and final grade

• Students still have problems with writing despite the best efforts of the ELI and RHET Departments.

• Many majors at AUC are disconnected from the reality of the Egyptian market.

• Successful career is based on the field of study and opportunities available in the job market.

Therefore, preparing students for a successful careers is not available for students in all majors due to the limitation of the job market.

• Student attitude and grade obsession prevents them from valuing participation unless it is directly linked to grades.

• The quality of students admitted goes down every semester.

• Class discussions and oral presentations are generally a "mixed bag", depending, in part, on how well students communicate before they reach our classes. When students cannot speak well or articulate complex ideas before attending a course, it can pose challenges to get them to do so in a matter of the number of weeks we have to prepare them.

• There is a special category of students called "Expected Graduates" (EG). faculty are strongly pressured to pass these students regardless of their performance otherwise the parents will complain. AUC cannot have any complaints!

• The level of English for many of the students -‐ and the level of English for many of the faculty (who continue to teach classes in Arabic) impedes effective communication across the campus.

• Poor written and oral English

• Students at AUC are not always fluent in English, even after they have taken the preparatory courses.

• It became more and more about getting a degree not on getting education especially liberal art education

Q

UESTION

6:

R

ESOURCES FOR

T

EACHING AND

R

ESEARCH

The following are adequate to help me meet my teaching and research responsibilities:

Department chair/unit

head support 68 49 19 10 5 3 4.01 154

Clerical/secretarial

support 79 46 13 13 3 0 4.20 154

Laboratory equipment

and supplies 31 37 21 14 5 46 2.59 154

Internet, ICT 47 71 13 19 3 0 3.92 153

Library resources 69 67 10 3 2 3 4.23 154

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The following are adequate to help me meet my teaching and research responsibilities:

Access to information on funding

opportunities 38 62 38 10 3 3 3.73 154

Assistance in proposal writing and preparation of grant budgets

29 49 42 13 8 13 3.25 154

Assistance in study

design/data analysis 18 30 51 16 10 29 2.63 154

Internal funding for

research 30 50 35 18 8 13 3.24 154

Internal funding for curriculum

development, teaching enhancement

24 59 31 25 7 8 3.29 154

Internal funding for bridge between

external grants 18 27 51 17 5 35 2.55 153

Support from the Center for Learning and Teaching (CLT)

63 60 18 5 4 4 4.05 154

Office space 85 50 5 9 5 0 4.31 154

Teaching and research

assistants 37 47 21 14 11 23 3.10 153

Support from University Academic Computing and Technologies

34 68 33 9 5 2 3.74 151

Maintenance and upgrade of computers

and other ICT 32 46 32 26 15 1 3.34 152

Maintenance and upgrade of all laboratory equipment

18 29 27 23 5 50 2.22 152

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Q

^UESTION

7:

C

^ORE

C

^OURSES

Have you taught a core curriculum course in the last three years?

Answer Options Response

Percent Response

Count

Yes 66.5% 103

No 33.5% 52

155

2

2.22 2.55 2.59 2.63 3.10 3.24 3.25 3.29 3.34 3.73 3.74 3.92 4.01 4.05 4.20 4.23 4.31 Maintenance and upgrade of all laboratory

Laboratory equipment and supplies Teaching and research assistants Assistance in proposal wri\ng and prepara\on of Maintenance and upgrade of computers and other Support from University Academic Compu\ng and Department chair/unit head support Clerical/secretarial support Oﬃce space

Resources for Teaching and Research

66.5%

33.5%

Have you taught a core curriculum course in the last three years?

Yes No

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Q

UESTION

8:

I

F

N

OT

,

W

HY

?

If not, why?

Answer Options Response Count

41

116 F

ACULTY

R

ESPONSES

:

• I have never been asked to. (My regular teaching is in a graduate program, but I would very much like to teach an undergraduate class.) I did teach an undergraduate class and some of the students called it a "core class" (just because it was an elective, I guess), but I have never received any information about how the core curriculum recruits faculty to teach in their program. Because I always teach a full load in my department and because I've been told that we should not request an overload, I have never inquired about teaching in the core

curriculum.

• My department does not offer a core curriculum course.

• Teaching overload in my program

• I taught Pols 101 from 2010-‐2013, while also being its coordinator for two years. I might teach it again in next year or the year after.

• graduate program

• Most professor who teach core curriculum courses prefer to teach them every semester.

• N/A

• I had not had an opportunity to do so

• not in my area

• teach core courses in major and not capstone

• Taught graduate and u/graduate courses; BUT planning to teach a core curriulum course in spring 17

• I am an instructor in ALI

• I am already loaded with my major courses but I like to contribute to these course in the future

• Not part of program

• My department offers graduate-‐level courses only.

• I teach Arabic language!

• Not my area

• I am in engineering and we do not have many engineering courses in the core.

• Not within my field of specialization.

• I teach in a special program with students who don't take core classes.

• I have been taking my full load in my program.

• Not been asked

• I just arrived this year and I'm a librarian

• I am mainly teaching MENG 300, 400, and 500 level courses

• I was not aske to

• NA

• Courses in my specialization in my department take all my time

• Our major offers mainly major courses

• I teach at the graduate level only

• I have been at AUC for only 2 years and I am preparing one right now

• My specialty does not serve such courses.

• ? Some faculty teach core courses, others do not.

• most of them are not in my discipline -‐ overloaded with Dept. course

• I teach major courses

• Not on my teaching schedule

• I already have a full load or an overload every semester at the graduate level. I prefer

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teaching graduate level students.

• The department has not offered a core curriculum course due to lack of resources.

• I teach at graduate level

• Graduate Teaching only

• I am teaching Arabic in ALA

• I teach mostly graduate courses.

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Q

UESTION

9:

S

ATISFACTION WITH

O

PPORTUNITIES FOR

G

RADUATE

S

TUDENTS

How satisfied are you with the opportunities offered to graduate students, through course work and other academic resources, to assist them in the development of their:

Answer Options

Very

Satisfied Satisfied Dissatisfied Very

Dissatisfied N/A Rating Average

Response Count

Research 26 62 23 5 35 2.26 151

Scholarship 19 62 28 8 34 2.16 151

Independent

Thinking 32 69 12 3 35 2.40 151

answered question 151 skipped question 6

2.16 2.26

2.40

Scholarship Research Independent Thinking

SaWsfacWon with OpportuniWes for Graduate Students

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Q

UESTION

10:

T

ENURE

P

ROCESS

Please indicate your level of agreement or disagreement with the following statements regarding the TENURE process (for tenure-‐track faculty):

Agree Agree Neutral Disagre e

Strongly Disagre

e N/A Rating

The tenure process, including standards and criteria (e.g.

teaching, research and service) for tenure, in my department/school are clearly defined.

25 43 13 21 9 41 2.55 152

Tenure decisions are primarily based on performance rather than politics, connections or demographics.

18 37 25 17 14 41 2.38 152

Reviews/feedback to help faculty prepare for tenure happen regularly in my department/school.

22 38 19 19 8 45 2.42 151

The processes and criteria for tenure are applied fairly and consistently.

15 30 30 20 14 42 2.25 151

2.25 2.38

2.42 2.55

The processes and criteria for tenure are applied fairly and consistently.

Tenure decisions are primarily based on performance rather than poli\cs, connec\ons or

demographics.

Reviews/feedback to help faculty prepare for tenure happen regularly in my department/school.

The tenure process, including standards and criteria (e.g. teaching, research and service) for tenure, in

my department/school are clearly deﬁned.

Tenure Process

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Q

UESTION

11:

C

ONTRACT

R

ENEWAL

P

ROCESS

Please indicate your level of agreement or disagreement with the following statements regarding the contract RENEWAL process (for faculty on renewable contracts):

Average Response Count The contract renewal

process, including standards and criteria (e.g. teaching, research and service), in my department/school is clearly defined.

31 52 22 20 14 15 3.14 154

Renewal decisions are primarily based on performance rather than politics, connections or demographics.

34 49 22 13 18 18 3.09 154

Reviews/feedback to help faculty prepare for the renewal process happen regularly in my department/school.

32 44 23 19 18 18 2.99 154

2.99 3.09

3.14

Reviews/feedback to help faculty prepare for the renewal process happen regularly in my

department/school.

Renewal decisions are primarily based on performance rather than poli\cs, connec\ons or

demographics.

The contract renewal process, including standards and criteria (e.g. teaching, research and service), in

my department/school is clearly deﬁned.

Contract Renewal Process

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Q

UESTION

12:

P

ROMOTION

P

ROCESS

Please indicate your level of agreement or disagreement with the following statements regarding the PROMOTION process:

The promotion process, including the standards and criteria (e.g.

teaching, research and service), for promotion in my department/school is clearly defined.

36 51 30 25 11 3.50 153

Promotion decisions are primarily based on performance rather than politics, connections or demographics.

32 42 39 24 16 3.33 153

Reviews/feedback to help faculty prepare for promotion happen regularly in my

department/school.

31 44 38 30 10 3.37 153

The processes and criteria for promotion are applied fairly and consistently

32 38 41 26 16 3.29 153

3.29 3.33

3.37 3.50

The processes and criteria for promo\on are applied fairly and consistently Promo\on decisions are primarily based on performance rather than poli\cs, connec\ons or

demographics.

Reviews/feedback to help faculty prepare for promo\on happen regularly in my department/

school.

The promo\on process, including the standards and criteria (e.g. teaching, research and service), for

promo\on in my department/school is clearly

Report on the Results of the Faculty Accreditation Survey