The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia released Monday its first annual Reports of Institutional Effectiveness.
The ROIE were developed as a resource for students, faculty, applicants and employers. They profile all of Virginia's public institutions of higher education and are a tool for state and school policy makers to evaluate the effectiveness of colleges and universities.
The report, are divided into four sections: institutional mission, college profiles, systemwide performance measures and institution-specific performance measures. They profile each of Virginia's 15 four-year institutions and its two-year institutions, Richard Bland College and the Virginia community college system.
The system-wide measures compared institutions on 14 standard points including financial stability, transfer and retention rates, graduation rates and class size, and the institution-specific measures allowed each school to highlight what it felt to be its unique aspects. "The schools were involved from the beginning," said Todd Maffa, director of institutional research and technology for SCHEV.
The University chose to emphasize its role as "a strong undergraduate program within a top-notch research institution," said Assoc. Provost Shirley L. Menaker, who was on the University committee that helped with SCHEV's assssments. "Because we did very well on all of the system-wide measures, we had the opportunity to explain some of our less apparent values in the institution-specific section," Menaker said.
Some of the points outlined were the number of prestigious awards and scholarships received by University students and faculty, its high graduation rate among African-Americans and the number of jobs created as a result of University research.
The ROIE, however, are nothing like other college guides that "are designed to sell magazines," Maffa said.
"The ROIE do not rank institutions," he said. The reports were posted on the SCHEV Web site rather than published as a way "to offer everybody access to these institutions' profiles," he added.
By emphasizing the role of research at the University, committee members hoped to make those who see the report more aware of its importance at the University and also the need for funding to back more research. "One of the measures we've come up short on is research funding for faculty projects," University spokeswoman Louise Dudley said.
"It is something we can refer to when meeting with government officials. The information is there in black and white," Menaker said.
"Because the state has done it, the information is easier to access for Virginia schools than trying to find it in U.S. News and World Report. If I were a Virginia parent wanting to send my children to an in-state school, it would give me a good idea of the differences in them," Menaker said.
"I feel that we have a solid report from this agency," Maffa said.
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