International University - Outcomes Assessment

Outcomes Assessment

The International University understands the importance of external accountability and therefore provides honest, reliable, and consistent information to IU’s stakeholders and to the public about measures in student learning outcomes and institutional goals. To be transparent and competitive, IU utilizes a combination of external indicators and self-developed tools to measure the achievement of its aims and also comparability to peer institutions.

Institutional Assessment

Student Satisfaction Inventory (Noel-Levitz)
During the last 36 years, more than 2,000 campuses have relied on Noel-Levitz to receive reliable feedback on student satisfaction in comparison to peer institutions and to better serve students. NL is specialized not only in private, but also in public institutions (mostly throughout North America), in two-year and four-year institutions, and graduate and professional schools.

The International University administers the Noel-Levitz student satisfaction survey on a yearly basis institution-wide to all students. IU scored above or even significantly above the National Group Mean (based on 43,674 records) on 6 out of 9 areas into which the many questions are summarized. The summary results center on whether the college experience has met the student’s expectations, the overall satisfaction rate, and whether the student would choose to enroll again. It was found that areas of improvement needed were accreditation, which is already in process. At the time the survey was administered in 2008, there were some complaints regarding general education faculty in dealing with students, and the problem was corrected. However, in ascertaining the meaning of the results, it was felt by the Outcomes Assessment Committee that this problem had had an impact on the results. The areas of strength where IU scored well above the national average were the campus climate, registration effectiveness, recruitment and financial aid effectiveness, registration without class conflicts, personal attention from admissions staff, strong commitment to diversity. Others strengths revealed by Noel-Levitz indicate that major courses provide valuable content, faculty are accessible outside of class, cultural background is respected and students are made to feel welcome. Also, students’ skills in doing research have increased, faculty use interactive teaching styles, and IU contributes to students’ understanding of other cultures. Another item on which IU scored very well was the living conditions in residence halls contracted for students. The Noel-Levitz survey will be administered again in November 2009.

Employment Rates (Alumni Survey)
The alumni survey was conducted in November 2008 with an impressive response rate of 56% indicating a close connection of IU alumni to their alma mater. The survey showed that 73% were employed within 6 months of graduation, 81% are currently employed full-time, 5% part-time, 7% self-employed, and 7% are currently not employed. According to this survey 78% indicated that the program definitely met the educational goals, 21% stated the goals were met somewhat and only 1% did not agree. The next alumni survey will be administered in November 2009.

Academic Assessment

ACAT Exams

ACAT is the instrument of choice for more than 500 colleges and universities when it comes to assessment in Political Science and related majors. IU Bachelor’s and Master’s students of Diplomatic Studies take the ACAT exam at the end of their respective program. The ACAT is an excellent opportunity for benchmarking. IU administered this exam the first time in 2008 with good results, especially given that the exam was administered on short notice with little preparation time, and also without the benefit of the newly developed Capstone course which summarizes the content of the entire program. While IU’s program is global in focus, the ACAT relies heavily on questioning concerning American Studies. Since American Studies are not a major focus of IU’s program, only the international politics score is used by IU in its benchmarking and self-assessment. IU’s graduating students scored in the 57th percentile on average in 2008, indicating an average scoring of better than 57 percent of graduates from other schools.

The exam was administered again in 2009 with significant growth in achievement. Not only was the average standard score increased from 397 to 585 but also IU’s strategic goal for placement was exceeded: a 100% of Bachelor and Master students scored in the 50th percentile or higher.

ETS Exams (Major Field Test) - - CBE (Comprehensive Business Exam)

The ETS Major Field Tests in Business were administered in 2008 the first time but could not be administered again in 2009 as the exams were withdrawn from the European market. Therefore the CBE (Comprehensive Business Exam) was administered in 2009.

The Comprehensive Business Exam is an online examination designed to assess core business knowledge in 8 content areas. (The exam is still in the BETA version). In each of these areas, a student’s results indicate: “Not Proficient”, “Basic”, “Proficient,” or “Mastery” level achievement. The CBE includes questions that cover 28 objectives within these eight content domains. IU is using the CBE results to take stock of business degree programs by comparing the performance of business majors to the performance of business majors at peer institutions, to judge the effectiveness of business programs in preparing students, to prepare accountability documents for governing boards and accrediting agencies, and to further establish within the degree program a culture of accountability and evidence that uses data to drive decisions about program changes and improvements.
The 2009 results indicate that the Bachelor’s average score was 58 out of 88 and the average Master’s score was 64 out of 88. Compared to peer groups IU scored very well as IU’s percentage of students with a “Basic” rating was higher in 6 out of 8 content areas.

IU anticipates that continued satisfactory, and even enhanced results will be achieved due to its revised Bachelor’s capstone course which now includes a computer simulation, as well as the development of a high-level Master’s capstone course.

Comments from Constituencies

For the past few years, IU has administered a U.S. Visiting Faculty Survey to all visiting faculty from U.S. institutions, with the goal of benchmarking IU’s performance in key areas with other institutions serving international students and providing external comparative data. A detailed comparison shows continued increase in the linguistic proficiency of IU students and in academic preparation. This indicates that IU’s efforts in these areas are providing excellent results and should be continued (i.e. English exam scores, placement exams for certain courses, strict enforcement of prerequisite guidelines). The global perspective of IU students also remains strong in comparison to U.S. students. In Summer 2009 a slight downturn in the average for motivation was noted over Summer 2008; however, it is not perceived as significant enough to warrant any specific actions.