Institutional Effectiveness

What is Institutional Effectiveness?

Institutional Effectiveness (IE) is a process whereby institutions engage in ongoing self-evaluation in order to measure achievements and outcomes as they relate to the institution’s mission. The overall goal of institutional effectiveness is to determine whether an institution’s units and departments are addressing the institutional mission.

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso (TTUHSC El Paso) has developed and implemented a campus-wide process to ensure that planning and evaluation procedures at all levels of the institution are integrated and research-based. Ongoing evaluation is conducted at the school and individual program/unit levels, and is documented in annual evaluation/assessment reports in which unit-level goals and outcomes are explicitly aligned with the mission, goals, and strategies of the TTUHSC El Paso Strategic Plan. This process allows for broad-based and systematic review of institutional goals and outcomes, informs continuing improvement processes, and results in effective accomplishment of the institutional mission.

TTUHSC El Paso's Overall Approach to Institutional Effectiveness

TTUHSC El Paso’s Institutional Effectiveness process is designed to permeate every facet of the institution. Based on Nichol’s Institutional Effectiveness Model (Nichols, 1995, 2000), the IE process at TTUHSC El Paso consists of three main elements:

  1. Strategic planning at the system and institutional level.
  2. Outcome assessment (also referred to here as evaluation/assessment) at the program and unit level.
  3. Program review, which focuses on the use of evaluation/assessment results to inform decision-making and strategic planning. The diagram below depicts this theoretical framework, which connects all three components in an interrelated and interdependent cycle of activities.

IE chart

Adapted from: A Practitioner's Handbook for Institutional Effectiveness and Student Outcomes Assessment Implementation by James O. Nichols, Third Edition, 1995, Agathon Press, New York

Institutional Effectiveness Resources