Keywords
program evaluation
Kotter
culture of evaluation
How to Cite
Abstract
A first-rate university should demonstrate the excellence and quality of its programs, including how they meet continuous and complex changes in areas such as technological advances, demographic changes, fiscal policies, and new contents in the academic offerings. In 2003, the University of Puerto Rico initiated a process to establish a culture of external scrutiny and evaluation of its programs to ensure that they could respond to the challenge of working with these complex topics. As part of said process, it required that all the programs with voluntary accreditation should be accredited. The project was a success, and 84 percent of those programs were accredited by the corresponding agencies. Taking as reference the model by John P. Kotter, a research specialist on large-scale transformation and change, this article describes the different stages that the programs went through to ensure accreditation. At the same time, it also confirms that the Kotter model is applicable to higher education.
Cómo citar:
Freytes-González, C. E., & Figueras-Álvarez, C. (2017). Program accreditation at the University of Puerto Rico: Policy analysis to evidence a successful process of change, 2003-2014. Cuaderno de Investigación en la Educación, 32, 126-173. Recuperado a partir de https://revistas.upr.edu/index.php/educacion/article/view/16511
References
Board of Trustees of the University of Puerto Rico. (1993). Norms and Guide to the creation and revision of programs at the University of Puerto Rico (Certification No. 113, 1992-1993). Río Piedras, PR: University of Puerto Rico.
Board of Trustees of the University of Puerto Rico. (2004). Institutional policy on accreditations (Certification 138, 2003-2004). Río Piedras, PR: University of Puerto Rico.
Board of Trustees of the University of Puerto Rico. (2004). Policy on institutional research (Certification No. 136, 2003-2004). Río Piedras, PR: University of Puerto Rico.
Board of Trustees of the University of Puerto Rico. (2006). Certification to amend the necessary conditions to hold a teaching position at UPR (Certification No. 15, 2006-2007). Río Piedras, PR: University of Puerto Rico.
Board of Trustees of the University of Puerto Rico. (2006). Norms of the creation of academic programs at the University of Puerto Rico (Certification No. 80, 2005-2006). Río Piedras, PR: University of Puerto Rico.
Board of Trustees of the University of Puerto Rico. (2007). Norms for the periodic evaluation of academic programs at the University of Puerto Rico (Certification No. 43, 2006-2007). Río Piedras, PR: University of Puerto Rico.
Board of Trustees of the University of Puerto Rico. (2009). Policy for the institutionalization of external evaluation of UPR libraries (Certification No. 38, 2009-2010). Río Piedras, PR: University of Puerto Rico.
Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). (2006).
Duck, J. D. (1998). Managing change: The art of balancing. Harvard Business Review on Change, 71(6), 109-118.
El-Khawas, E. (2001). Accreditation in the USA: Origins, developments and future prospects. Paris, France: International Institute for Educational Planning, UNESCO. Retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001292/129295e.pdf
Hiatt, J. M. & Creasey, T. J. (2003). Change management: The people side of change. Loveland, CO: Prosci.
Kotter, J. P. (1996). Leading change. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
Kotter, J. P. (2008). A sense of urgency. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press.
Mento, A. J., Jones, R. M., Dirndorfer, W. (2002). A change management process: Grounded in both theory and practice. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 3(1), 45-59.
Morley, J. & Eadie, D. (2001). Leading change. In J. Morley & D. Eadie, The Extraordinary Higher Education Leader. Washington, DC: National Association of College and University Business Officers. Reprinted with permission by the American Council on Education Department Leadership Project. Retrieved from http://www2.acenet.edu/resources/chairs/docs/Morley_LeadingFMT.pdf
Paton, R. A. & McCalman, J. (2000). Change management: A guide to effective implementation. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
University of Puerto Rico. (2006). Ten Challenges for 2006-2016: An agenda for planning. Río Piedras, PR: Office of the President.
Wedge, C. (2006, Nov.-Dec.). Leading change: An exploratory process. EDUCAUSE Review, 41(6), 10–11.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.