Accreditation Themes
Program Outcomes
General Ed. Outcomes
Submitted by administrator on Fri, 03/19/2010 - 08:44
As directed by the 1996 WASC accreditation report, we have thoroughly reviewed and revised our general education program, making it more streamlined and integrated, focusing on developing those qualities in students we feel most effectively meet the mission of the university.
As directed by the 1996 WASC accreditation report, we have thoroughly reviewed and revised our general education program, making it more streamlined and integrated, focusing on developing those qualities in students we feel most effectively meet the mission of the university. Over the course of more than two years, 8 an interdisciplinary committee on general education assessment (involving more than 20 faculty members, with input and review from the faculty at large) drafted a new Mission Statement on General Education which defines the three pillars of a BYU–Hawaii education: general education, major education, and religious education. The main outcomes of the GE program have been articulated in terms of seven qualities of a generally educated person. Such a person will pursue truth, communicate effectively, solve problems, respond aesthetically, behave ethically, integrate socially, and be globally responsible.
Meaningful Employment
Submitted by administrator on Mon, 03/22/2010 - 10:05
To be the most positive influence possible in our target areas, our students must have professional opportunities—that is, employment. Therefore, this theme relates to our ability to achieve the objective in our target area (and elsewhere) by providing career services for our students to assist them in obtaining employment opportunities. Thus the university has placed a renewed emphasis on employment and return of international students to home regions.
The university’s focus on meaningful employment was described in the 2003 Institutional Proposal. Within that document were two significant recommendations: (1) centralize relevant existing data collected from admissions, registration, alumni surveys, and departmental surveys, and establish a common framework for departmental analysis, placement efforts (career services), and student tracking and (2) enhance the visibility, resources, and professionalism of placement services.
In addition to these two general recommendations, four very specific areas for action were identified. “1) establishing an organizational structure, physical setting, and resources necessary to manage effective career development programs, placement services, and evaluation systems; 2) educating the university community regarding awareness of career development as a concept linking academic preparation and post-collegiate employment; 3) increasing student awareness of, and involvement in, career development and placement programs, from the first year to graduation; 4) increasing internship and practicum opportunities in students’ home countries which can serve as stepping stones to employment and/or graduate education
Second Language Learning
Beginning in 2001, the university, at the direction of its Board of Trustees, undertook a series of initiatives to increase the enrollment of students from the university's target area, and specifically from Asia. An influx of non-native English-speaking students presented the prospect that many students could easily spend much of their day immersed in their native language rather than developing the proficiency in English necessary to perform well academically. Once the strategic decision had been made to move in the direction of enrolling more students from non-English speaking backgrounds, however, BYU–Hawaii faculty and officials recognized that they would need to ensure high standards of English competence and to create an environment in which the English language skills would be actively developed and supported, with mechanisms in place to assess progress-both the progress of individual students and the progress of the institution as a whole.
Our goal, as articulated in 2002 in our Institutional Proposal, was to develop a language plan that would maximize the language-learning opportunities of non-native speakers of English, that would involve all members of the campus community, that would be institutionalized and therefore sustainable, and that would be subject to assessment and data-driven feedback and improvements.