MANAGING ACADEMIC AFFAIRS

Scope
• academic planning and management
• effective management of academic affairs at the departmental
level
• the responsibilities of an academic head of department
• the challenge of delivering quality academic programs
• Institutional academic program review
• Institutional Autonomy and Responsibility
• Clinical supervision as a component of ensuring quality of
academic programmes
 Introduction
• All academic staff are responsible for all academic
matters at the institution
• Academic matters include teaching, learning, research
and scholarship.
• Duties include directly and indirectly assisting students
and in order to enhance the academic experience.
• Key responsibilities include providing academic and
career advising, administering academic programs,
strategic curriculum development and supporting a
healthy and inclusive community
Academic Planning & Management
Scope Of APM
 Considerations During APM
When deciding on an academic plan, take heed
on;
• Standards in the discipline
• Knowledge domain to pick from
• Clientele (students) interests
• Pedagogic/Andragogical considerations
• Time frame (durability)
 Cont’
• Nature and criteria of assessment
• Knowledge, attitude and skills as key domains
to consider change
• Taxonomy of learning (Bloom)
• Inter- and intra-disciplinary enrichment
 Cont’
• Institutions’ resources and limitations
• Market demands and needs
• Use of technology: discussion sessions,
references, net resources; etc
• Teaching strategies
• Budget preparation if needed
Effective Management Of Academic Affairs at the Departmental level

Basic information that HODs should know about an

academic institution and department
 Cont’
 History of your institution,
 Vision & mission,
 Courses taught in your department,
 The org’nal/administrative structure of
your dep’t & institution ;
 The responsibilities of an academic head...

Supervising the affairs of the department;

Establish and maintain open, effective
communication within and outside the
department;
Establish and maintain academic
environment conducive to teaching and
learning;
Knowing current/contemporary issues in
Education at all levels;
 Cont’
Knowing the latest pedagogical theories
related to the teaching disciplines;
Preventing and solving of conflicts among
staffs;
Planning and directing of all activities;
Administers departmental budgets and
ensures equitable expenditures
 Preparation of a Strategic Department Plan;

 Evaluation of Previous and Present Plan

 Determine the objectives of your department
 Decide on the criteria for measuring success
or failure;
 Create tools to measure Progress Towards
your Objectives ;
 Identify the Action Steps for the
Accomplishment of your Objectives
 Cont’
 Assign Responsibility for the Different Parts of
your strategic plan
 Estimating costs required to achieve your
objectives,
 Decide what you will do with the information
gathered
 Launch your plan and monitor progress
 Follow through your plan; review it frequently
 The criteria of Quality Assurance at the Dep’t

Peter Mayer (2009) said “Quality is

difficult to describe, but when you see
quality, you can’t deny it”.
 Criteria that define quality for the dep’t
are; area of accreditation, students’
admission, quality of teaching, teaching
staffs, quality of facilities, conflict
management strategies, etc.
 Techniques that academic heads can use to resolve conflicts,
suggested by Mc Namara (2006)

Regularly review job description and

ensure job roles don’t conflict
 Build relationships with all subordinates,
meet at least once a month
 Consider an anonymous suggestion box
for employee suggestions
 Cont’
 Conduct basic training about interpersonal
communication, conflict management and
delegation.
 Get regular, written status reports and include
current issues
 Avoid being judgmental
 Deal with present problem rather than past or
potential injustice
 Cont’
 Choose your words carefully
 Restate what the other part says
 Actively listen to the other party
 Use questions of clarification and avoid
accusation questions
 Do not fear to tell others that they are
correct about something
How to ensure quality academic programs at
the institution al level
• This is take-home assignment and should be
discussed in groups of 2
 THE CHALLENGE OF DELIVERING QUALITY ACADEMIC
PROGRAMMES
• Most educ instns in developing nations can not deliver
quality acad programs b’se of resource constraints.
• It has been noted that some acad instns grow in
number of students admitted without corresponding
increase in the number of lecture rooms.
• In most instns in Africa funding of acad programs is a
big challenge, thus the system accepts whatever is
offered as the ideal.
• Clearly education posses a big challenge to gov’t and
p’ple of developing nations as well as whole emerging
acad instns in these countries.
 Take-home assignment
• In groups of three, discuss the key challenges
and obstacles to the effective management of
academic affairs in educational institutions in
your country.

• Suggest measures that can be taken to deliver

quality academic programmes in your country.
 Institutional academic program review

• The primary role of the instnal acad staff and

administrators in initiating and recommending
needed changes in academic programs.

• Each instn has a distinct mission, academic

expertise and understanding of its own acad
programs; the institutionally developed review
reports are the foundation of the academic
programmes’ review process.
 Cont’
• It is therefore both desirable and necessary
that instns provide leadership in developing
processes and criteria for the review of acad
programs and functions at the campus level.

• The results of institutions' review of acad

programs will be utilized at the campus level
to make determinations about the quality and
efficiency of instructional programs.
The primary purposes of academic program review are:

• To maintain and enhance the quality of

instruction, research, and public service
conducted at state colleges and universities.

• To respond to existing and emerging social,

cultural, technological, scientific, and
economic needs (including addressing the
needs of business/industry).
 Cont’
• To provide to citizens a variety of high-quality
opportunities for intellectual growth.

• To make programs commonly accessible to

academically qualified citizens of the state.

• To utilize the state's and the institution's

resources effectively and efficiently.
 Cont’
• Informed decisions related to program initiation,
expansion, contraction, consolidation and
termination as well as reallocation of resources are
among those that may result from the program
review process.

• Acad program review should strike a balance btn

legitimate needs for program improvement, public
accountability and institnal autonomy in matters of
internal mgt.
 Cont’
• It is knowledge-based rather than opinion and
intuition-based;

• It requires conclusions to be based on analysis

and assessment of qualitative and quantitative
information reviewed and summarized in a
written report by the reviewers.
 Institutional Autonomy and Responsibility
• In the process of managing academic affairs,
institutional autonomy in matters of internal
management is important.

• The institution should assume primary

responsibility for the review of proposed and
existing acad programs consistent with the
guidelines set by its governing body.
 Cont’
• This central role of the instns is based on the
concept that self-studies, reviews and evaluations,
and subsequent recommendations must provide for
institutional participation and be sensitive to
institutional needs, e.g., accreditation
requirements, internal plans, program improvement
decisions, resource allocation patterns, etc.
• The process of review is therefore an institutional
prerogative.
 Academic Program Review Principles
• All academic programs should be scheduled for
review on a four to five-year cycle.
• The institution must provide documentation from
the accrediting body to set the review cycle.
• At the core of the review process is the selection
of criteria to be used in the evaluation.
• Both qualitative and quantitative criteria must be
included in the review process.
• Careful collection and analysis of data is essential
to the review process.
 HOW DO WE DETERMINE QUALITY ACADEMIC
PROGRAMMES
• By instituting quality control mechanism in place
(quality assurance).
• A committee should be constructed at the level of
academic departments to manage academic programs
in the universities.
• By scrutinizing applicants for appointments and
promotions of academic staff based on merits.
• Having a dynamic senate committee to review and acts
as a judicial commission on academic matters.
• Ensuring competition with other universities of higher
standards.
 Indicators of quality academic programs

• Institutional Management

• international comparison
 Cont’
• Assessment of the quality by higher authorities.

• Teaching and learning

• Research

• Estate management

• Functional health
 FACILTIES NEEDED FOR DELIVERING QUALITY
ACADEMIC PROGRAMMES

• Physical structure
• laboratories
• computer labs
• transport facilities to enhance academic mission
• functional laboratories.
• internet facilities
• sufficient stationeries for all staff and students.
 EXPECTATIONS OF DELIVERING QUALITY ACADEMIC
PROGRAMMES.

• Students performance in the labor market should

be good.
• quality publications by academic staff
• student assessment of staff is good
• curriculum is relevant to the country`s social
needs.
• The university is accessible to all social groups.
• The community and extension service is relevant
to the institutions missions.
Requirement for delivering quality academic
programmes
• The quality of academic staff (70% PhD holders in
different categories) not politically motivated
ranking.
• The type of students to be produce must be
critical thinkers that can think and act
independently.
• Morally sound graduates
• The library
• Funds and grants (scholarship)
 Clinical supervision as a component of
ensuring quality of academic programmes
Supervision of teaching and learning that is
fundamentally humane and emancipated from
authoritarianism. It aim is to help the teacher
improve the teaching learning situation
 Elements of clinical supervision

• Planning conference
• Classroom observation
• Feedback conference
 The planning conference

• the supervisor begins the process of supervision by holding a

conf with the t’cher.
• In the conf, the t’cher has an opportunity to state personal
concerns, needs, and aspirations.
• The supervisor’s role is to help the t’cher clarify these
perceptions so that both have a clear picture of the t’cher’s
current instruction, the t’cher’s view of ideal instruction, and
possible discrepancies between the two.
• Then they both explore new techniques that the t’cher might
try in order to move the t’cher’s instruction close towards
ideal
 Classroom observation
• At this level, clinical supervisors observe
teaching based on agreed criterion
• The supervisor uses a wide range of
observation techniques such as selective
verbatim transcription i.e., having a written
record, audio and video recording of the
lesson etc
 Feedback Conference

• Final phase of clinical supervision cycle.

• T’cher and supervisor meet to review the
observational data.
• Supervisor encourages the t’cher to make his own
inferences about teaching effectiveness
• Feedback conf often turns into a planning conf-with
the t’cher and supervisor jointly deciding in a
collegial manner to collect further observational data
or plan a self-improvement program.
 The Goal of Clinical Supervison
• Providing teachers with objective feedback
• diagnosing and solving instructional problems
• helping teachers develop skills in using
instructional strategies
• evaluating teachers for promotion, transfer or
other decisions
• helping teachers develop a positive attitude
about continuous professional development