Quality Enhancement Plan focuses on student learning
Digest Extra

The Quality Enhancement Plan is an integral new component of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools reaffirmation process that reflects and affirms the commitment that student learning is at the heart of NGCSU’s mission and values. 

Members of the North Georgia QEP team meets on a regular basis to review literature related to enhancing student learning, to examine NGCSU institutional research data, determine what is done well and what can be improved upon and to examine QEP plans from other institutions. The team is conducting group sessions to ask “stakeholders” to provide input about the learning process at NGCSU and possible directions for the university’s quality enhancement plan.

Based upon the information gathered from ongoing group sessions and from a survey questionnaire that will be mailed during the fall 2005 semester, the team will develop two or three possible QEP plans that will be reviewed by stakeholders and then submitted to NGCSU’s SACS Leadership Team for approval and final selection. 

The QEP provides an opportunity to enhance overall institutional quality and effectiveness by focusing on issues that will foster student learning.

The QEP must be: Focused on student learning; tied to the mission of the university; supported by sufficient resources to implement and sustain; assessable; and developed through input from all aspects of the institution’s community.

The QEP is the creative, forward-looking, component of the SACS accreditation process.

According to the 2003 SACS Commission on Colleges’ “Handbook for Reaffirmation of Accreditation,” “The Quality Enhancement Plan is a document developed by the institution that describes a course of action for institutional improvement crucial to enhancing educational quality that is directly related to student learning. The QEP is based upon a comprehensive analysis of the effectiveness of the institution in supporting student learning and accomplishing the mission of the institution.”   

The team has met with one group of staff and students and has meetings planned with faculty and administration during the next few weeks. A meeting with alumni and community stakeholders will be scheduled soon. Several of these sessions will be repeated to encourage additional participation.

The QEP Team encourages and requires help from the university’s different constituencies to assure that this process is truly broad-based. When you receive an invitation to participate in the planning process, please try to respond and if you have ideas or questions that you would like to share with the team, please contact any of the QEP team members. Team members welcome your input. This process must include all the “stakeholders” at NGCSU and together we can assure that we will develop a plan that will truly enhance student learning at NGCSU. 

The QEP team consists of the following individuals and will increase its membership as the process continues to develop: Dr. Kathy Sisk, Academic Affairs; Dr. Donna Gessell, Graduate Studies and External Programs; Dr. Michelle Byrne, Department of Nursing; Dr. Kim Melton, Department of Business; Dr. Irene Kokkala, Department of Biology and Coordinator of Learning Excellence; Ms. Alyson Paul, Director of Residence Life; COL(Ret.) Billy Wells, Leadership Development; Dr. Robert Fuller, CEO of the Faculty Senate and Department of Physics; and Dr. Bob Orwig, Department of Business Administration. 

To find out more information on group meetings and to provide feedback, contact QEP team leader Dr. Kathy Sisk at ext. 1604.

This page last modified on: Monday, 13 June 2005 17:07:02 -0400 by University Relations    

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