The new method for evaluating programs within the Universities of Wisconsin’s 13 institutions could substantially increase how many programs go on the chopping block each year.
The current rubric, which flags programs that confer fewer than 25 degrees over five years, has identified from 41 to 54 programs for review in recent years, according to a task force on program elimination that presented the committee’s findings.
“While the current metric has been useful in determining an academic program’s performance based on the conference of degrees, it represents a lagging indicator,” the task force said. “In addition, by focusing on graduated students rather than enrolled, the current metric does not fully represent the instructional workload associated with providing curriculum for a program.”
While the group honed in on a numerical measure of a program’s health, members also highlighted that metrics don’t capture its whole value.
Along with quantitative rubrics, “the value of a program is also reflected in its qualitative contributions,” the task force said. “Both measures should be included in a thorough and fair monitoring process that looks at the totality of contribution of an academic program.”