Introduction

Institutional effectiveness is the term used at Eastern Mennonite University to refer to the collection of processes and policies that together assure that the university is successful in achieving its mission and vision and meeting the needs of its stakeholders (students, employees, as well as the churches and communities it serves). Institutional effectiveness might just as easily be viewed as a widely-held commitment to continuous improvement on the part of all areas of the university.

Planning at EMU takes place at a variety of levels within the organization. All planning simultaneously informs and is shaped by the university’s strategic plan. A formal strategic planning process is undertaken every three years, and concludes with an updated three-year plan for the institution. The three-year plan is adjusted as-needed between major updates. Each year departments and programs within the university develop or revise their own multi-year plans, all of which are linked to the priorities of the university’s three-year plan.

Assessment efforts at EMU are built around student learning outcomes and operational outcomes that academic programs and departments articulate. Each year, faculty and staff review data according to their own assessment cycles. The findings from assessment work inform plans for growth and improvement. Additionally, program review cycles provide an opportunity for more in-depth review of program effectiveness, viability and future direction.

Institutional Effectiveness Policy

In order to ensure the EMU’s commitment to principles of continuous improvement, based on a systematic and documented process of assessing institutional performance with respect to mission in all aspects of the institution, the university as a whole and its various programs and services engage in the following processes:

1. The university maintains a strategic plan that articulates priorities aligned with its mission, vision and values.
2. The university annually develops an operating budget which is approved by the board of trustees.
3. All operational units (i.e., programs, departments, offices, etc.) maintain annual plans that are aligned with the university’s three-year priorities.
4. All academic programs, and academic and student services identify expected outcomes, assess the extent to which these outcomes are achieved, and provide evidence of seeking improvement based on analysis of assessment results.
5. All administrative support services identify expected outcomes and demonstrate the extent to which the outcomes are achieved.
6. The university engages in annual review of its performance vis-a-vis the goals of the strategic plan as well as the specific goals of the various operating units.

These processes inform decision-making at all levels and provide a sound basis for budgetary decisions and resource allocations.

Guiding Principles for Institutional Effectiveness

Lest they devolve into bureaucratic exercises, EMU’s institutional effectiveness processes should be participative, flexible and responsive, relevant, and closely linked to university planning. To this end, we strive to maintain an institutional effectiveness framework that adheres to these principles:

• Sustainability - Our institutional effectiveness processes must be sustainable at the department/program and institutional levels (i.e., they can be maintained at a high level of quality with the resources available)
• Focus is important, and authentic improvement takes time; the framework should facilitate the implementation of a variety of improvements that will be at a variety of points in a process at a given time (i.e., we needn’t attempt to improve all aspects of our programs simultaneously)
• A Spirit of Inquiry - The system should foster a spirit of inquiry and continuous improvement, not compliance; it should serve as the means by which we hold ourselves accountable to our own aspirations. Annual focus should be on straightforward, key questions:
• What were your outcomes for this year? (Which ones were you focusing on?)
• How were you measuring those outcomes?
• What were your goals with regard to those measures?

This policy is under development. See the current draft available in a Google Doc.