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Office of the Provost
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provost@pacific.edu

4. Self-Study, Peer Review, External Review, and Accreditation

To be successful, the Self-Study requires a multi-perspective approach. There are three primary sources of information to guide a unit during the Self-Study.

  1. Self analysis and reflection is the primary source that includes systematic feedback from students, alumni and other stakeholders and the results of outcomes assessment and data analysis.
  2. University analysis by members of the Pacific community outside of the unit.
  3. All units are required to consider the external environment including regional, national, or global markets and other institutions. Representatives from external peer or aspirant programs/institutions may be engaged.

Several units are subject to periodic accreditation reviews by their respective professional association. If so, Self-Study for these units will be scheduled in close proximity to these accreditations to minimize workload and to use opportunities to join external evaluations to University Self-Studies. These units are still required to submit Annual Reports and Periodic Self Studies. Some units voluntarily adopt national standards (e.g., Council for the Advancement of Standards), and these may serve as the framework for the self-study. Other units do not participate in required external reviews even though they may have national associations or data sharing collaboratives or consortia. These units must consider the local and global contexts in their planning and review processes. All Self-Studies shall include information from both internal and external sources.

Below are some of the possible external roles in the process:

  • experts engaged by the unit to compare a unit to best practices or accreditation standards
  • assessment experts engaged by the unit who help design, establish, administer, analyze and/or synthesize unit level outcomes assessment
  • facilitators engaged by the unit to  guide and assist with unit and strategic planning activities
  • experts who provide an overall assessment of a unit with recommendations
  • management consultants who guide management or budgetary systems
  • technical experts engaged by the unit on information management, tools, or socio-technical systems
  • writers who cull self-study data and generate analyses or summaries
  • accrediting teams.