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Prepared byThe Program Assessment Center

February 2010

Plan for the Program Assessment at King Fahd University ofPetroleum and Minerals

According to NCAAA Standards

Deanship of Academic DevelopmentProgram Assessment Center

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PROGRAM ASSESSMENT CENTER

Plan for Program Self-Assessment - 2010

Table of Contents

1. INTRODUCTION 2

2. OBJECTIVES OF THE SELF-ASSESSMENT 2

3. RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN STANDARDS FOR INSTITUTIONS AND STANDARDS FOR PROGRAMS 3

4. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE FOR PROGRAM SELF EVALUATION 4

5. PROGRAM SELF EVALUATION PLAN 7

6. TIME TABLE 9

APPENDIX A 10

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Plan for the Program Self-Assessment - 2010

1. INTRODUCTION

The National Commission for Academic Accreditation and Assessment (NCAAA) has been established in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with responsibility for determining standards and criteria for academic accreditation and assessment, and accrediting post secondary institutions and the programs they offer. To this end, all organizational and administrative units of education institutions should be involved in quality assurance, with performance monitored and plans made for improvement in the development strategies, and in the procedures for monitoring performance following self-assessment activities.

In its efforts to meet high quality standards, KFUPM decided to apply for NCAAA accreditation for both institutional accreditation and program accreditation for non-accredited academic programs. These programs include all BS programs for the College of Science, Architecture Department BS program and the Community College programs at both Dammam and Hafr Albatin.

This document details a draft plan for conducting major program self-assessment activities for the programs involved in the NCAAA program accreditation. The plan is divided into five sections: Introduction, Objectives of the Self-Assessment, Organizational Structure of the Self-Assessment, Committee Charges, and Timetable. An appendix that has a summary of all departments that already started the program specification is attached.

2. OBJECTIVE OF THE PROGRAM-ASSESSMENT

The primary objective of the program-assessment is to identify the extent to which each program, applying for accreditation, complies with the standards outlined in the NCAAA Standards for Quality Assurance and Accreditation of Higher Education Programs and to check that intended student learning outcomes are consistent with the NCAAA National Qualifications Framework, and with generally accepted standards for the field of study concerned including requirements for any professions for which students are being prepared. This exercise will lead to development and implementation of actions plans for improvement. In particular, the focus will be on the following objectives:

1. Assess the academic programs performance in relation to each of the NCAAA quality standards and scales.

2. Gather data and other evidences that support the self-assessment findings, including key performance indicators and benchmarks.

3. Identify priorities for program improvements. 4. Develop a plan that continuously improves the quality of the programs and achieve the

desired KPI targets.

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3. RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN STANDARDS FOR INSTITUTIONS AND STANDARDS FOR PROGRAMS

The NCAAA has developed a set of standards for quality assurance and accreditation of both higher education institutions and programs in eleven general areas of activity.

1. Mission Goals and Objectives2. Program Administration3. Management of Program Quality Assurance 4. Learning and Teaching5. Student Administration and Support Services6. Learning Resources7. Facilities and Equipment 8. Financial Planning and Management9. Employment Processes10. Research11. Relationships With the Community

These standards cover the same general areas of activity for both institutions and programs but there are some differences that reflect a total institutional overview on the one hand and the perspective of just one specific program on the other. In addition, some general institutional functions are not considered in a program evaluation.

Activities relating to the standards fall into three categories.

1. Those that are institutional and have no impact or only very indirect impact on programs. Examples include the management of extra curricular activities or the attractiveness of buildings and grounds. These are not considered in looking at the application of the standards to programs.

2. Those that are general institutional activities with a major impact on programs. Examples would be the provision of learning resources through a library or the processes for employment and promotion of staff. Evaluation of these functions in an institutional evaluation would be broad and consider the quality of management and services provided for the institution as a whole and how effectively they support all programs throughout the institution. In a program evaluation they would be considered from the perspective of the particular program concerned. For example a library might be very good in many ways, but not have the materials to support a particular program. In that case the provision of learning resources might receive a reasonably high rating in an institutional evaluation but a low rating in an evaluation from the perspective of the program concerned in the program evaluation.

3. Those that relate directly to the planning and delivery of programs. Examples would be the appropriateness of intended learning outcomes for students and the quality of teaching in the program. For an institutional evaluation these things should be looked at within all programs, and then a judgment made about strengths and weaknesses in the institution’s programs as a whole with the possibility of identifying significant variations between different programs. In an institutional evaluation part of the consideration for teaching and learning should be the effectiveness of processes for ensuring all programs are of good quality, monitoring performance, and supporting improvements in all programs throughout the institution. An evaluation of learning and teaching for an institutional evaluation would normally be done by getting a profile of performance at the level of departments or

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colleges, and then preparing a report identifying similarities and differences and overall performance for programs in general.

Further guidance on the use of the standards for monitoring performance and preparations for accreditation is given in Handbook for Quality Assurance and Accreditation in Saudi Arabia prepared by the Commission.

4. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE FOR PROGRAM SELF EVALUATION

The program assessment exercise will consist of a supervisory committee, a steering committee, and seven programs committees. The charges of the committees are highlighted in this section. The supervisory committee will approve the plan and the final self assessment report for each program. The steering committee will manage the entire program assessment process and review the final report for each program. The program assessment committee will mainly focus preparing program self study reports and providing necessary documents and evidence needed in the program evaluation. In particular, the program teams will conduct the following tasks:

Conduct self-assessment of academic programs. Assess the academic programs performance in relation to each of the NCAAA quality

standards. Gather data and other evidences that support the self-assessment findings. Write the program specifications, course specifications and field experience with the report

of each following the NCAAA standards and format. Provide the program self study report according to NCAAA Standards for Quality

Assurance and Accreditation of Higher Education Programs. Identify priorities for improvements. Develop a plan that continuously improves the quality of education and achieve the desired

targets in each program and overall.

Table (1) below list all program committee members

Table (1)NCAAA Program Assessment Committee – February 2010

S.No Department /College Members1 Chemistry Dr. Mohammad Fettouhi - Chairman

Dr. Abdel Latif IbdahDr. Amer Adnan El-Batta

2 Earth Science Dr. Gabor Korvin - ChairmanDr. A.A. QahwashDr. K. Al-Ramadan

3 Mathematics and Statistics Dr. Mohammad Yousuf - ChairmanDr. Mohammad BokhariDr. Ibrahim Al-Rasasi

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4 Physics Dr. H. Bahlouli - ChairmanDr. S.M. Al-MarzougDr. M.S. Musazay

5 Architecture Dr. Rabee Reffat - ChairmanDr. Filippo BeltramiDr. Murat Cetin

6 Dammam Community College Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Arfaj - ChairmanDr. Herman PerzanowskiDr. Ali Al-KarkhyMr. Ronan WalsheMr. Hocine AkkachaMr. Hani Al-Mohair

7 Hafr Albatin Community College Dr. Mubarak Almutairi – ChairmanDr. Mohammed LawanDr. Mohammed Nazih

In addition, two teams from the college of Applied and Supporting Studies to support both Institutional and Program self study committees in relation to providing necessary documents and evidence in relation to the Prep. Year and General Courses offered by the college. The committee members are listed in Table (2) below

Table (2)CASS Program Assessment Committees – February 2010

S.No Department /College Members1 College of Applied and

Supporting StudiesDr. Ahmed BendaniaDr. Hassan SendiDr. Kaukab AzeemMr. Anthony Gibson

2 Prep Year Dr. Bassam Al-ZyabDr. Mohammad Al-GindiMr. Mohammed Al-ZoubiMr. Colin HatfieldMr. Ian DeaconMr. Irfan Ahmed

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Plan for the Program Self-Assessment – 2010


ORGANIZATION CHART

Steering Assessment Committee

ArchitectureDepartment Math Department

Chemistry Department

Physics Department

Supervisory Committee

Hafr Al-BatinCommunity

College

Dammam Community

College

Earth science Department

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5. PROGRAM SELF EVALUATION PLAN

KFUPM is going to start with the institutional self evaluation first since NCAAA requires that institutions to be accredited in order to be considered for program accreditation. However both institutional as well as program self evaluation will work in close coordination as there are many overlaps between the two processes as can be seen from the above section.

Teams have been formed from the College of Science, Architecture Department and from Dammam and Hafr Albatin Community Colleges to support the institutional accreditation teams and to prepare them for the NCAAA program accreditation. Therefore, the program self assessment teams will carry out their work in two stages:

1. Stage I; Activities Needed in the Institutional self assessment2. Stage II; Activities to continue preparation for the NCAAA program accreditation

For Stage I, the following tasks should be completed before the deadlines set in the Time Line section of this document:

1. Evaluate performance of the programs in relation to the standard 4 (Learning and Teaching). The self evaluation scales should be used to assist in this process to rate the quality of the practices, substandards (for standard 4 only) on a five point rating scale. Judgments of quality MUST be based on appropriate evidence.

2. Provide Program Specification for all programs (both graduate and undergraduate) offered by the concerned department. (Some departments have already completed this task, see Appendix A)

3. Provide Course and Field Experience Specifications for all courses in the program (for BS degrees ONLY) offered by the concerned department. (Some departments have already started this task, see Appendix A)

4. Coordinate with the Institutional self assessment standard 4 team to provide the self evaluation scales and necessary documents and evidence. Coordination will be also needed in relation to the requested student surveys requested by NCAAA

For Stage II, the following tasks will be completed (Deadlines will be determined after consulting the University administration and NCAAA):

1. Prepare required reports by NCAAA. This includes Anuual program reports Course and field experience reports

2. Prepare the program self study report according to NCAAA Standards for Quality Assurance and Accreditation of Higher Education Programs.

3. Identify priorities for improvements. 4. Develop a plan that continuously improves the quality of education and achieve the desired

targets in each program and overall.

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The seven committees have already formed and they will be trained through two workshops on program and course specifications. The first will be in first week of March and the second is sometime on April. All academic programs have to provide self evaluation scales (for standard 4 only) completely with evidence and necessary documentations to be used in the self institutional assessment. Each program, from the seven, should prepare the program specifications, course specifications, field experience and their individual reports. The following table shows that with deadline.

Tasks Deadline 1. Committee formation Done2. Training on program and course specifications (two workshops) To be arranged in first

week of March and on April.

3. Provide self evaluation scale (for standard 4 only) with evidence and documentations

3rd March 2010

4. Provide program specifications for all programs (both graduate and undergraduate) offered by the concerned department

10th March 2010

5. Provide Course and Field Experience Specifications for all courses in the program (for BS degrees ONLY) offered by the concerned department

24th March 2010

6. Write the reports for: Anuual program report Course report Field experience report

15th July 2010

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Plan for the Program Self-Assessment – 2010

6. TIME TABLE

* Two workshops will be offered on first week of March and April about program and course specifications.

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APPENDIX A

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Summary Report on the Program and Course Specifications for

College of Sciences and

College of Environmental Design

Summary This report summarizes the brief details of the Program and Course Specifications submitted by Chemistry, Mathematics & Statistics and Earth Sciences Department from College of Sciences and Architectural Engineering Department from College of Environmental Design. For the Architectural Engineering department, it is noted that for the courses that are not submitted are the courses that were not offered in the department. The courses listed in the course specifications are compared with the courses listed in the Undergraduate Bulletin 2006-2009. More information on the Program and Course Specifications (Workshop Proceedings, Workshop Material, Templates etc.) can be found on the Deanship of Academic Development website at the following URL: http://www.kfupm.edu.sa/dad/deanship/events/workshops/ws071113.htm

College of SciencesChemistry

The report for Program Specifications is well written and it is inline with the Program Specifications template. Similar is with the course specifications. Table 1 provides the list of course specifications that are submitted by the Chemistry Department. The course specifications were provided for 25 courses. The course listing is taken from the undergraduate bulletin 2006-2009.

Table 1: Course Specifications submitted by Chemistry Department.S.No Course # Course Name1 CHEM 101 General Chemistry I2 CHEM 102 General Chemistry II3 CHEM 111 Basics of Environmental Chemistry4 CHEM 201 Organic Chemistry I5 CHEM 202 Organic Chemistry II6 CHEM 212 Physical Chemistry I7 CHEM 223 Quantitative Methods of Chemical Analysis8 CHEM 303 Spectroscopic and Qualitative Organic Chemistry9 CHEM 311 Physical Chemistry II10 CHEM 312 Physical Chemistry III11 CHEM 314 Computer Applications in Chemistry12 CHEM 323 Instrumental Chemical Analysis13 CHEM 324 Advanced Instrumental Chemical Analysis14 CHEM 331 Inorganic Chemistry15 CHEM 332 Advanced Inorganic Chemistry16 CHEM 355 Industrial Catalysis17 CHEM 399 Summer Training in Industry18 CHEM 415 Molecular Spectroscopy19 CHEM 450 Polymer Chemistry

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http://www.kfupm.edu.sa/dad/deanship/events/workshops/ws071113.htm


20 CHEM 453 Chemistry of Petroleum Process21 CHEM 455 Industrial Inorganic Chemistry22 CHEM 456 Industrial Organic Chemistry23 CHEM 471 Chemistry Senior Project I24 CHEM 472 Chemistry Senior Project II25 CHEM 479 Chemistry SeminarThe field experience specifications for the course CHEM 399 ( Summer training in industry) are also submitted.

However, for eleven courses, the chemistry department did not submit the course specifications. The list of courses that the department DID NOT SUBMIT are presented in Table 2

Table 2: Course Specifications NOT SUBMITTED by Chemistry Department.

S.No Course # Course Name1 CHEM 402 Structure and Mechanisms in Organic Chemistry2 CHEM 403 Synthetic Organic Chemistry3 CHEM 406 Spectroscopic Identification of Organic Compounds4 CHEM 416 Photochemistry5 CHEM 417 Introduction to Statistical Thermodynamics6 CHEM 418 Quantum Chemistry7 CHEM 424 Environmental Analysis8 CHEM 425 Trace Analysis9 CHEM 431 Chemistry of the Environment10 CHEM 436 Chemical Applications of Group Theory11 CHEM 457 Homogeneous Catalysis in Industrial Processes

Mathematics and Statistics

The Program Specifications for Mathematics and Statistics department is well organized and in line with the template. The course specifications for the department are mentioned in Table 3. The documents for the course specifications are individualized and each course specifications are mentioned in a separate word file.

Table 3: Course Specifications submitted by Math & Stat Department

S.No Course # Course Name1 MATH 101 Calculus I2 MATH 102 Calculus II3 MATH 131 Finite Mathematics4 MATH 132 Applied Calculus5 MATH 201 Calculus III6 MATH 202 Elements of Differential Equations7 MATH 232 Introduction to Sets and Structures8 MATH 260 Introduction to Differential Equations & Linear Algebra9 MATH 280 Introduction to Linear Algebra10 MATH 301 Methods of Applied Mathematics

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11 MATH 302 Engineering Mathematics12 MATH 311 Advanced Calculus I13 MATH 321 Introduction to Numerical Computing14 MATH 330 Euclidian and Non Euclidean Geometry15 MATH 345 Modern Algebra I16 MATH 355 Linear Algebra17 MATH 399 Summer Training18 MATH 401 Methods of Applied Mathematics II19 MATH 411 Advanced Calculus II20 MATH 412 Advanced Calculus III21 MATH 421 Introduction to Topology22 MATH 425 Graph Theory23 MATH 430 Introduction to Complex Variables24 MATH 431 Introduction to Measure Theory & Functional Analysis25 MATH 440 Differential Geometry26 MATH 442 Calculus of Variations and Optimal Control27 MATH 450 Modern Algebra II28 MATH 452 Applied Algebra29 MATH 455 Number Theory30 MATH 460 Applied Matrix Theory31 MATH 465 Ordinary Differential Equations32 MATH 470 Partial Differential Equations33 MATH 471 Numerical Analysis I34 MATH 472 Numerical Analysis II35 MATH 480 Linear & Non Linear Programming36 MATH 485 Wavelets and Applications37 MATH 495 Industrial Mathematics.38 STAT 201 Introduction to Statistics39 STAT 211 Statistics for Business I40 STAT 212 Statistics for Business II41 STAT 319 Probability and Statistics for Engineers and Scientists

Table 4: Course Specifications NOT SUBMITTED by Math & Stat Department.

S.No Course # Course Name1 MATH 305 Development of Mathematics2 MATH 499 Topics in Mathematics3 STAT 301 Introduction to Probability Theory4 STAT 302 Statistical Inference5 STAT 310 Regression Analysis6 STAT 320 Statistical Quality Control7 STAT 325 Nonparametric Statistical Methods8 STAT 342 Applied Statistics9 STAT 355 Demographic Methods10 STAT 361 Operations Research I11 STAT 365 Data Collection and Sampling Methods12 STAT 375 Categorical Data Analysis

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13 STAT 399 Summer Training14 STAT 415 Stochastic Processes15 STAT 430 Experimental Design16 STAT 435 Linear Models17 STAT 440 Multivariate Analysis18 STAT 460 Time Series19 STAT 461 Operations Research II20 STAT 470 Senior Project in Statistics21 STAT 475 Statistical Models for Lifetime Data22 STAT 499 Topics in Statistics

As listed form Table 4, it is noted that most of the courses from Statistics are not presented in the Course specifications.

Earth SciencesThe Program and Course Specifications for Earth Sciences Department is in line with the templates. The documents for the Course Specifications are individualized as well as presented in a consolidated report. For one course GEOP 405, there are two versions of the file for the Course Specifications.

Table 5: Course Specifications submitted by Earth Sciences Department.

S.No Course # Course Name1 GEOL 201 Physical Geology2 GEOL 203 Historical Geology3 GEOL 214 Paleontology and Biostratigraphy4 GEOL 216 Mineralogy and Optics5 GEOL 305 Structural Geology6 GEOL 318 Regional Geology7 GEOL 320 Petrology8 GEOL 341 Engineering Geology9 GEOL 415 Petroleum Geology10 GEOL 423 Hydrogeology11 GEOL 446 Environmental Geology12 GEOP 202 Introduction to Geophysics13 GEOP 204 Introduction to Seismology14 GEOP 205 Computational Geophysics15 GEOP 315 Seismic Exploration I16 GEOP 320 Seismic Data Processing17 GEOP 399 Summer Training18 GEOP 402 Senior Project19 GEOP 405 Seminar20 GEOP 415 Seismic Exploration II21 GEOP 430 Geophysical Well Logging22 GEOP 450 Electrical Exploration23 GEOP 455 Geodynamics24 GEOP 470 Geophysical Engineering25 GEOP 472 Metrology and Climatology26 GEOP 475 Environmental Geophysics

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27 GEOP 480 Special TopicsTable 6: Course Specifications NOT SUBMITTED by Earth Sciences Department.

S.No Course # Course Name1 GEOL 202 Applied Geosciences for Scientists and Engineers2 GEOL 307 Sedimentation and Stratigraphy3 GEOL 312 Remote Sensing and GIS Applications in Geology4 GEOL 328 Geological Mapping Techniques5 GEOL 355 Geochemistry6 GEOL 399 Summer Training7 GEOL 409 Geology Seminar8 GEOL 420 Geotectonics9 GEOL 430 Field Geology10 GEOL 431 Geomorphology11 GEOL 434 Marine Geology12 GEOL 435 Petroleum Geochemistry13 GEOL 436 Oceanography14 GEOL 440 Sedimentology15 GEOL 441 Techniques in Sediment Analysis16 GOEL 454 Computational Method in Geology17 GEOL 456 Economic Geology18 GEOL 460 Mining Geology19 GEOL 461 Mineral Economics20 GEOL 464 Carbonate Geology21 GEOL 480 Special Topics22 GEOP 404 Gravity and Magnetic Exploration23 GEOP 465 Paleomagnetism24 GEOP 478 Data Inversion in Geophysics

Physics Department not submittedThe Physics department did not submit their Program and Course Specifications till date. A memo was sent on November 18, 2007 regarding the submission of Program and Course Specifications and subsequent reminders were also sent on May 25, 2008 and on December 15, 2009.

College of Environmental Design

Architectural Engineering Department

The report for Program Specifications is well written and it is inline with the Program Specifications template. Similar is with the course specifications. Table 7 provides the list of course specifications that are submitted by Architectural Engineering Department. The course specifications were provided for 24 courses. The course listing is taken from the undergraduate bulletin 2006-2009. For the courses that are not submitted as presented in Table 8, these courses were not offered by the Department.

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Table 7: Course Specifications submitted by ARE Department

S.No Course # Course Name1 ARE 100 Introduction to Architectural Engineering2 ARE 201 Architectural Graphics3 ARE 202 Architectural Design I4 ARE 211 Building Materials5 ARE 212 Construction Systems6 ARE 221 Computer Applications in Building Design7 ARE 301 Architectural Design II8 ARE 303 Working Drawings9 ARE 320 Architectural Acoustics10 ARE 322 Building Mechanical Systems11 ARE 325 Building Illumination12 ARE 342 Principles of HVAC13 ARE 400 Senior Design Project14 ARE 413 Construction Management15 ARE 431 Building Economy16 ARE 440 Solar Energy in Buildings17 ARE 443 Computer-Aided Building Design18 ARE 445 Structural Masonry19 ARE 446 Planning and Design of Structural Systems20 ARE 457 Intro. to Building Maintenance Mgt.21 ARE 490 Special Topics in Architectural Eng.22 ARE 491 Special Topics in Fire Safety Management23 ARE 350 Coop Work Program 24 ARE 399 Summer Training

The field experience specifications for the course ARE 350 and ARE 399 ( Co-op work program and Summer training) are also submitted.

Table 8: Course Specifications NOT SUBMITTED by ARE Department

S.No Course # Course Name1 ARE 442 Building Energy Analysis2 ARE 444 Knowledge-Based Systems in Buildings3 ARE 450 Artificial Lighting Systems4 ARE 452 Daylighting Analysis and Design5 ARE 455 Room Acoustics6 ARE 456 Noise Control in Buildings7 ARE 458 Quantitative Methods in Const. Mgt.8 ARE 459 Contracts and Specifications9 ARE 328 Architectural Acoustics and Illumination

CED Departments Not Submitted

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From the College of Environmental Design (CED), the following departments did not submit the Program and Course Specifications

1. Architecture Department2. City and Regional Planning Department3. Construction Engineering and Management

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