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Basis for the decision.Strengths (10)Organizational Description The Vision, Mission, and Values of the Business Unit clearly reflect the vision and values of KPU demonstrating strong alignment between the university and the Business Unit. Verified: This Strength was verified on site. Institution Comment There is no Institution Comment. Commissioner Comment There is no Commissioner note or condition.Organizational Challenges The Business Education Framework has been developed and is in use along with mandated program reviews usually conducted every five years to help identify the Business Unit's performance improvement. Verified: This Strength was verified on site. Institution Comment There is no Institution Comment. Commissioner Comment There is no Commissioner note or condition.Criterion 2.1 There was a robust process of engagement with faculty in development of the Business Unit's strategic plan, as well as a clear action plan with specific measures and time periods for implementation. Verified: This Strength was verified on site. Institution Comment There is no Institution Comment. Commissioner Comment There is no Commissioner note or condition.Criterion 3.4 The Business Unit utilizes the advisory board to obtain information for the purposes of planning educational programs, offerings, and services; marketing; process improvements; and development of other services. There are mechanisms in place to obtain information from stakeholders for collection and analysis. Verified: This Strength was verified on site. Institution Comment There is no Institution Comment. Commissioner Comment There is no Commissioner note or condition.Criterion 3.5 Several retention initiatives were introduced to support business students. For example, the BEST program, the internationalization initiative, and the newly-created courses designed to support the growing international student population and prepare them for business studies were created to support the retention efforts of the Business Unit. Verified: This Strength was verified on site. Institution Comment There is no Institution Comment. Commissioner Comment There is no Commissioner note or condition.Criterion 3.6 It was verified on site that policies and procedures are in place to seek information and to address stakeholders' complaints. As the Business Unit is heavily guided by the collective agreement with the union, multiple bodies (including the Faculty Council snd Senate) participate in policy formation and channeling complaints regarding academic and policy issues to appropriate offices. Verified: This Strength was verified on site. Institution Comment There is no Institution Comment. Commissioner Comment There is no Commissioner note or condition.Criterion 5.4 It was verified on site that a full-time faculty member has been deployed in each program/major offered by the Business Unit. Faculty loads are eight courses per academic year with released time for additional responsibilities. There is no evidence of excessive or unexplained overloads Verified: This Strength was verified on site. Institution Comment There is no Institution Comment. Commissioner Comment There is no Commissioner note or condition.Criterion 5.7 A faculty and staff handbook has been developed to serve s a guide to procedures, policies, and practices for the management of faculty members. The collective bargaining agreement extensively dictates the responsibilities and rights of faculty members and staff. Evidence suggest that a faculty development fund exists to benefit full-time faculty and part-time faculty and they are encouraged to engage in professional development activities. Verified: This Strength was verified on site. Institution Comment There is no Institution Comment. Commissioner Comment There is no Commissioner note or condition.Criterion 6.2.1 The Learning Centre (academic support, tutoring, etc.) is available to business students and faculty to improve academic performance. The Teaching and Learning Centre is a new support center with strong potential and good resources. Intercultural competency training was developed during the urgency of the surge in international student enrollment. The Registrar functions appear to be very well designed and implemented with excellent technology utilization. The new My Academic Plan (MAP) tool is valuable to the Business Unit for multiple purposes, including advising. Further, it is potentially empowering to students to evaluate and project their own progress toward degree completion or other consideration. Verified: This Strength was verified on site. Institution Comment There is no Institution Comment. Commissioner Comment There is no Commissioner note or condition.Criterion 6.3.1 Policies and procedures appear to be well-described, clearly communicated, and followed. An on-site visit with the Registrar confirmed many details of the self-study contents. Transfer credit arrangements with the British Columbia Council on Admissions and Transfer (BCCAT) are well-developed and easily understood. Verified: This Strength was verified on site. Institution Comment There is no Institution Comment. Commissioner Comment There is no Commissioner note or condition.Opportunities for Improvement (OFI) (10)Organizational Challenges The evidence provided in the self-study showed a decline in domestic enrollment and a large increase in international enrollment, resulting in an overall growth but largely comprised of international students. There was no discussion of these challenges in the self-study, although there was evidence provided during the site visit of the impact of this and the resulting changes made in many areas of KPU in response. The Business Unit would benefit greatly from continuing to work with the various service areas to execute a coherent response to these challenges. Verified: This OFI was verified on site. Institution Comment The School of Business agrees with the Reviewers. There is a decrease in domestic enrolment and overall increase in enrolment through an increase in international students. Established in this year’s budget is an increase in marketing funding which will enable the SoB to have a more aggressive campaign for domestic student enrollment in all areas of the SoB. We are confident we will be able to increase domestic enrollment. We are also confident the work being done by the institution regarding strategic enrollment, will aid us in this endeavor. It is the intent for the Strategic Enrolment Plan to utilize waitlist and completion data to schedule courses to allow for higher utilization and growth. The Business Unit has a program which includes outreach to high schools and other marketing initiatives. As a publicly funded institution, there is a cap on the FTE allocated funding by the Government Ministry which limits growth of domestic seats. The institution has a targeted number of FTE’s for which there is limited room for an increase of domestic students. In addition, a tuition freeze which has capped tuition to only a 2% increase each year for inflation, inhibits growth of domestic seats going beyond the capacity of the allocated funding from the Ministry. Currently, with the over capacity of international students together with the lower number of domestic students, unused funding has in part supported additional sections during this time of growth, which is unsustainable. The KPU strategic enrollment management process will mitigate this issue and direct enrolment towards a more balanced ratio. Commissioner Comment There is no Commissioner note or condition.Criterion 1.2 There was insufficient evidence of ensuring ethical business and academic practices in all student and stakeholder transactions. No table showing key processes with measures or indicators and frequency of measurement was included in the self-study. The Business Unit would benefit from developing specific processes for meeting these and measures or indicators to determine progress in this area. Verified: This OFI was verified on site. Institution Comment The School of Business is exploring the UN’s PRME designation. PRME designation aligns well with KPU’s Vision 2023, Academic Plan and the SoB Strategic Plan. It is a 2 year process and may have significant resource challenges for the School, however, it is an important and necessary journey for our school and will support our continued goal to educate responsible business leaders of the future. The Dean and a faculty member champion have an agenda item for the next Faculty Council meeting to attain an affirmative vote to begin the process. PRME’s Vision and Mission: Business and management schools as well as other management-related higher education institutions play a key role in shaping the mindsets and skills of future leaders, and can be powerful drivers of corporate sustainability. PRME's vision is to realize the Sustainable Development Goals through responsible management education. Our mission is to transform business and management education, and develop the responsible leaders of tomorrow. http://www.unprme.org/ The SoB also is very much engaged and committed to making a difference through the De-colonization/Indigenization and diversity/internationalization initiatives. These initiatives serve all students, faculty and staff and promote inclusivity, openness, human rights, social justice, and fair and ethical business practices within the SoB and will result in a different type of graduate who will influence the world of business upon graduation. Although these initiatives are in their infancy from a change process perspective, it is believed the impact will be immense as it becomes part of the lived experience at KPU SoB for all students, faculty and staff. Impact on society can also be demonstrated by employment rates, subsequent professional credentials, public seminars / workshops / conferences, employer / industry and alumni feedback. Ethical business practices within the unit can be shown through number of KFA grievances, employee length of service, number of complaints. Commissioner Note Note on Criterion 1.2.c. – ACBSP requires that the business school or program should ensure ethical business and academic practices in all student and stakeholder transactions and interactions. Programs should explain how ethical business practices are ensured and explain how ethical academic practices are ensured. The visiting team noted that there was insufficient evidence of the impact on society of its program offerings, services, and operations. KPU is exploring is exploring the UN’s PRME designation. The Commission looks forward to seeing compliance with this criteria in the next QAR. ENTR 4140 is a sales course that has students cold call members of the community soliciting donations to scholarships for KPU students. A portion of the student's grade is tied to the amount of money raised within a certain period of time, with a requirement of raising $20,000 for full marks for this aspect of the course. This was raised as a concern by students, alumni, and some members of the administration. There is an urgent need to address the ethical implications of the practices in this course. Verified: This OFI was verified on site. Institution Comment The School of Business is concerned about the ethical implications of this particular assessment within the main assignment in ENTR 4140 as well. The SoB recognizes that there is an inappropriate relationship between the institution and students when a course grade reflects the dollar amount of donations solicited for the Alumni Association to fund student scholarships. The assignment assessment in question as stated above has been pulled from the course after discussion and agreement with the department and faculty who teach the course. The amount of funds raised is no longer attached to the 20% weighted portion within the main sales assignment. The KPU Foundation, where the money raised is deposited as scholarship funding for future students, and the VP Academic & Provost were notified of the issue and also strongly supported the removal of the assessment. The vice-chair of Senate has also weighed in and has strongly advised the faculty to reconsider their approach on the matter. In the future, should an assignment be presented with a monetary requirement attached to an assessment, the course will be cancelled immediately, if changes to assessment methodology are not made. The faculty who teach this course will provide a course presentation prior to to leadership prior to the course start date. Leadership will follow-up with the teaching faculty mid-way and at the end of the course. The course presentation will not include this assessment and will align with the current official course outline posted for students. Ongoing discussions with the department regarding the ethics of such assessments and overall ethical business and educational practices will continuing. Creative ways to ensure strong assessments for “closing a sale” will be explored through sound educational practice and ethical business practices. The ENTR program has completed their program review in the last week and hope to gain approval from the Senate Standing Committee on Program Review in two weeks’ time. Should they receive approval with the changes as stated above, they will be embarking on a quality assurance 5 year plan, which includes better assessment practices, contemporary and creative entrepreneurial experiences, teaching & learning best practices for students, and inclusion of social justice principles within sales and business. Commissioner Comment There is no Commissioner note or condition.Criterion 3.3 The School of Business would benefit from improving existing methods and by developing additional listening methods for all stakeholders identified in Standard 3.1. For example, alumni satisfaction survey data exists, but was not referenced. Verified: This OFI was verified on site. Institution Comment Although alumni satisfaction survey data was not strongly linked within our report, we do indeed rely on this data to inform and guide us in our program reviews, program advisory committees, and our ongoing education quality initiatives. In conjunction with Std. 0, Criterion IV - Organizational Description, the SoB will endeavour to develop a stakeholder profile map to explicitly identify stakeholders and target population for SoB programs which includes metrics. Commissioner Note Criterion 3.3 - The business unit will periodically review listening and learning methods to keep them current with educational service needs and directions. KPU’s SoB has recognized this issue and will endeavor to develop a stakeholder profile map to explicitly identify stakeholders and target population for SoB programs which includes metrics. The Commission looks forward to seeing compliance with this criteria in the next QAR.Standard 4: Measurement and Analysis of Student Learning and Performance There is an expectation in this standard of showing trends and improvements based on data and analysis. Linking internal measures and the appropriate MFT component is in the initial stages of development and analysis, but may offer promise for the future.The outcomes assessment program needs to be systematic. Consideration of useful measurements will require additional attention, even if the appropriate places for those assessments are well-identified. External comparisons and benchmarking are extremely limited at this point. Greater focus on comparisons will identify opportunities for improvement. Verified: This OFI was verified on site. Institution Comment Outcome assessment is subject to a systematic process developed by Faculty Council and supported with resources from the Dean’s office including administrative assistants. Learning outcomes are assessed each semester. This process is time-bound with outcome assessment data reported each semester on the marks due-date to Faculty Council’s Standing Committee on Educational Quality. This data is compiled and disseminated to department chairs within the week following its submission to FC. Faculty council hosts an annual workshop in May for departments to collaboratively analyze the outcome assessment data from the preceding three terms and develop action plans. The three period report is currently under revision to reference course learning outcomes and explicitly link assessment data and action plans to internal and external benchmarks. The three period presents trends over the preceding year and link to previous three period reports, their analysis and action plans. The development of capstone courses in programs currently under program review provides an opportunity to involve external stakeholders such as alumni and employers to learning outcomes assessment and benchmarking. Commissioner Comment There is no Commissioner note or condition.Criterion 5.1 Development of a formal HR plan will improve the Business Unit. The Business Unit does not have a formal HR plan that links to its strategic plan. While elements of an HR plan exist in the departmental planning documents, the Business Unit would benefit from a fully-developed HR plan that supports and links to its strategic plan. The need for an HR plan is magnified by the fact that 77 new hires were introduced to the Business Unit during the self-study year and the retirement of 16 full-time faculty is projected within the next two years. Verified: This OFI was verified on site. Institution Comment The School of Business agrees with this assessment. The development of a formal HR was pending the hire of the Dean and two Associate Deans. These hires were completed within the last three months and the development of an HR plan is pending. We are currently working with the KPU Human Resources Department in creating a staffing compliment which depicts relevant start dates, regularization (permanent) status, number of years of service, leaves, release positions and date of last performance review. Via this compliment, a HR plan will be implemented specific to departments and areas of expertise to begin planning for future retirements and recruitment strategies. The design of the plan includes onboard, off boarding, and instructional skills components to contribute to quality assurance processes. In addition, the staffing compliment will be linked to the SoB budget faculty and staff salary line to ensure continued budgetary planning aligns with staffing needs. Successional planning and opportunities for advancement will also be included in the HR plan. Areas of focus will also include overlapping of chair appointments to ensure mentoring and support during the onboarding of new chairs. Commissioner Note Note on Criteria 5.1. ACBSP requires that business units have an HR plan that supports its strategy. KPU’s CoB has a strategic plan, but there is an opportunity to develop a Human Resource Plan for the Business School that clearly supports the Strategic Plan. There is also an opportunity to ensure that the HR plan aligns with the strategic plan goals. The Commission looks forward in the next QAR to reviewing the HR plan.Criterion 5.6 The collective bargaining agreement governs the relationship between faculty and administration in the areas of evaluation, compensation, and administrative duties. As indicated in the evidence files and verified on site, the Business Unit has not evaluated permanent faculty for the last fourteen years. While a guide for faculty performance review was developed, the collective bargaining agreement does not provide for a mandate or an opportunity for faculty performance appraisal. An opportunity exists for developing a workable process to evaluate faculty performance without violating the terms of the collective bargaining agreement. Verified: This OFI was verified on site. Institution Comment As presented under institutional feedback to in Standard 1.1, the School of Business has already engaged in many different ways to evaluate performance outside the collective agreement. A large focus on peer to peer accountability has been a successful approach. The leadership team recognizes faculty as educated professionals who have the skills to moderate and support each other in their goals for education quality. The common threads for faculty are student learning and quality education, for which they have been gaining success in holding each other accountable from this perspective. This piece has also helped with re-engaging many faculty and has been a silver-lining during the time of no formal performance reviews. Commissioner Comment There is no Commissioner note or condition. The Business Unit would benefit from developing a mechanism that allows students to systematically provide their evaluation of instructors whereby student input is considered and a plan of action is developed to address concerns raised. Student evaluations of instructors are not consistently conducted and there is no evidence to show that action is taken as a result of those evaluations. Verified: This OFI was verified on site. Institution Comment Unfortunately, this OFI may be linked to the Collective Agreement and the current moratorium on formal performance reviews. Student feedback is collected for all courses, via IAP online surveys. For Probationary Faculty, Deans get the same report that faculty receive, which includes all open-ended comments. For Post-Probationary, Deans receive a dashboard, with annual results for each faculty member. If the person taught three sections of the same course that year, the Dean would see the averages for all three combined and no open-ended comments. The IAP dashboard includes all faculty, both Probationary and Post-Probationary. As well, consistent use of the student feedback is not extensively reviewed within departments, as it is viewed as confidential and is not generally discussed in detail at the department level. It is only used when faculty are comfortable sharing their results. Grade distribution is however reviewed by the SoB. Formal complaints are dealt with through the Policy AD2. Should there be concerns regarding instructors, students are able to submit their complaints in accordance with this policy. Student complaints are reviewed and followed-up with through the Dean’s office, where an Associate Dean will meet with the student and faculty member separately to determine where improvements can be made. Often the complaint results in a letter to the student and generally uncomplicated issues are resolved. Should the student be dissatisfied with the outcome they may progress to the next steps within the policy. The complaint process is confidential and cannot be discussed with the department. However, the feedback to faculty through this process provides an opportunity for learning and for changes in their teaching approach or assignment structure the next time they deliver the course. In addition, there is no a consistent “course” feedback system, which does not review instruction, and only the course itself. This is currently being discussed and will hopefully become a part of the review process for all programs to incorporate student feedback for course changes and updates. It will also enable faculty teams to see patterns which will be informative for substantial course and program changes/updates. The type of feedback from this format will be useful and may reduce the formal complaints, as many complaints have been about the course rather than instruction. Performance evaluation of regular faculty is governed by the Collective Agreement The SoB has implemented semi-annual workshops that integrate professional development. The objective for the professional development is to allow faculty to critically self-assess their practice of teaching and provide them with opportunities to adopt best practices. An initiative currently under development is a series of micro-credentials that will culminate into a certificate of teaching and learning in higher education. Faculty evaluation is a component of the micro credentials and certificate program. Commissioner Comment There is no Commissioner note or condition.Criterion 5.8 Because of Canadian privacy laws, no faculty names were included in Figure 5.6 which makes it difficult to connect scholarly/professional activities to specific individuals. A significant number of faculty members are not engaged in scholarly or professional activity. There is an opportunity to increase the Business Unit's focus on scholarly and professional activity to enhance the depth and scope of knowledge within their disciplines, as well as the effectiveness of their teaching. A summary of faculty engaged in scholarly activities was not apparent because no summative information was provided in Figure 5.6. Institution Comment Although the site reviewers are not able to view specific names attached to scholarly/professional activities, the Dean and Associate Deans have access to this information. Many faculty are very involved in professional development and scholarly activities, but unfortunately many do not report their activities consistently, as this again is a leadership influence rather than top down mandate within the union environment. The Leadership are working on accountability that is agreeable to faculty for this process. Leadership also feels this is related to the level of engagement in the faculty team. The more engaged, the more accountable the reporting, the more support for faculty interests, the more scholarly/professional activity. Currently most faculty are still employed/self-employed in their respective professions and are very much engaged in their profession’s PD. For example, many accountants continue to practice and are engaged heavily in their regulatory body’s professional requirements. We have a data bank of all professional development requests from the PD faculty applications, which helps inform us where faculty interests lie in addition to the reports we do receive as per the annual professional form to be submitted with vacation requests. We recognize this is an area where improvement is important. Commissioner Comment There is no Commissioner note or condition.Criterion 6.1.3 Careful review of the CPC matrix may be useful. Another review of syllabi may reveal coverage of less-represented areas. For example, the Operations Management syllabus refers to topics such as supply-chain management, production planning, and forecasting. It is likely there is some coverage of Information Systems in addressing those OM topics. Also, a reconsideration of Business Policies coverage may reveal additional hours. Verified: This OFI was verified on site. Institution Comment The SoB is currently engaged in detailed work on Course Learning Outcomes to address gaps in the CPC matrix. As well, work is being conducted to ensure all course outline learning objectives are included in the course syllabi/presentations. In the reporting of minimum hours, the SCEQ preferred conservative estimation as this was more likely to lead to analysis and opportunities for improvement than a missed issue.
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