This volume draws together a selection of papers from YAC2018, the first meeting in the annual Year Abroad Conference series, which took place at Newcastle University in September 2018. The contributions collected here examine some of the opportunities, gains, and challenges the Year Abroad brings for both students and staff. They are presented…

Explains the rationale underlying the State University of New York (SUNY) Assessment Initiative (a systemwide assessment of general education and academic majors), describes specific procedures and processes involved in implementation, and provides a preliminary report on its status. (EV)

Describes the plan being implemented at Northern Illinois University to assess its multicultural initiatives. Discusses findings from the assessment and recommendations for improving the initiatives. (EV)

This paper looks at how corpus data was used to design an Italian as an L2 language learning programme and how it was evaluated by students. The study focuses on the acquisition of Italian verb-noun collocations by Chinese native students attending a ten month long Italian language course before enrolling at an Italian university. It describes how…

An approach to enhancing program quality in educational institutions through program mapping is presented in this report. First, the objective of program mapping is specified as a means to evaluate and clarify the learning outcomes of a college's educational programs; and its use as a graphic representation of the interdependent relationships…

An evaluation of the Bachelor of Science degree program in Gerontological Studies and Services (GSS) at York College of the City University of New York was undertaken. Participants in the study were enrolled in or had completed a gerontology course or had graduated with a GSS major. From a potential pool of 200 persons generated from alumni and…

Several models of program review that are used in private colleges are discussed, along with differences between program review models used at public and private colleges, and perspectives on the future of program review at private colleges. Various written materials were examined, and nonstructured interviews were conducted with faculty and…

In 1996, as part of the budget review process, Utah State University questioned the legitimacy of the outdoor recreation program in terms of student use, cost, and its role as part of the university mission. A task force was appointed to determine if the Outdoor Recreation Center should continue. This paper discusses program issues investigated by…

This study is designed to document and evaluate how one program is attempting to transform a long established training model to meet current standards for training licensed professional counselors and for continuing program accreditation. A formative, or process, evaluation method has been implemented to evaluate and, simultaneously, to improve…

Typical characteristics of program reviews, illustrations of to whom the reviews relate in a university setting, and conditions and expectations that may enhance the use of the results of program reviews are described in this report. It is argued that program reviews do not serve all levels of a university equally; the primary beneficiaries of the…

Many directors of college recreational programs are feeling pressure for increased accountability in the face of shrinking financial resources and increased demand for services. One method of providing that accountability and learning about the strengths and weaknesses of services offered is by assessing the level of client satisfaction. Developed…

The New Faculty Mentoring Program at the University of Albany (New York) began in the fall of 1986 and involved 52 participants (26 mentors, 26 new faculty). The objectives were to help the new faculty: get acquainted with the campus and its academic environment; build their teaching careers; and advance toward tenure by becoming involved in…

The general inability of instructional developers to demonstrate the effects of instructional development services toward improving college programs is discussed, and a process for program evaluation and revision is proposed. A flow chart of the general process for continuous program evaluation and revision provides examples of operational…

The paper describes the Academic Internship Program for Handicapped Students at the University of California, Riverside. An introductory section provides an overview of internships in terms of function, purpose, supervision, grading systems, needs of interns, and conclusions from the literature. The project addresses student problems in the…

The political processes involved in an academic program evaluation are discussed. Data gathered from a program evaluation conducted at a small, public, liberal arts university in the Southeast were used in examining the explanatory power of the various theories and models. (Author/MLW)