Institutional Assessment helps shape the decisions of management and other stakeholders in developing an efficient programme to enhance effective learning.
Institutional level assessment in a university is undertaken to improve or meet set standards in academic studies and research in the university. The Institutional Assessment Unit of (IRPO), embarks on institutional level assessment efforts at the University of Ghana.
The main task of the Unit is to assist management to enhance the academic, physical and social development of all students during their stay on campus. The Unit also helps to compare the level of its performance to that of other universities to aid the periodic readjustment of stated goals and objectives.
The Unit also helps in the monitoring and evaluation of the strategic plan of the University to improve on or maintain the targets of the strategic plan. Periodic internal reports are also generated for University management.
As regard its internal assessment reports, the Unit uses mainly primary data on the students by conducting surveys to obtain the necessary information to generate those reports.
Some of the yearly surveys that the Unit conducts are:
- Entry surveys
This survey looks at the problems students face while processing their enrolment into the University.
- Students Satisfaction Surveys
This survey assesses the level of satisfaction students enjoy during their study period on campus. It encourages them to compare, in the field of academia, accommodation, social life, their expectations before enrolment and what pertains after their enrolment.
- Exit survey
This survey examines the students’ experiences compared to his expectation at the time of entry and gives an assessment as to whether his/her expectations had been met by the University.
- Destination Survey
This survey tracks the graduates of the University in the job market and assesses whether their study is having any impact on their current jobs. It also finds out whether they would like to return to the University for further studies and the courses they would like to offer as well as the reasons for those courses. They are also given the opportunity to recommend any re-structuring of the courses they undertook taking into consideration the exigencies of the jobs they find themselves in.
