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Assessment Details

  Academic Year: 2020-2021         Level: Graduate

  Campus Department: Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences [UG and Grad]

  Program Type: Major [UG] / Program [Grad]

  Program Name: Middle Eastern Studies MA (Link)

 



Description of Data Collection:

1. Students are tested on their language facility in the second year, and are required to pass a language exam before they can take comprehensive exams or submit a thesis
2. The Graduate Committee reviews writing samples of each student at the completion of the first year and gives feed-back in the first-year review session
3. The Graduate Committee reviews and rates comprehensive exams and MA theses to assess achievement of goals
4. Exit interviews are conducted both electronically and in person when students complete the program
5. Students are tracked after graduation to check for employment and admission to doctoral programs


Review Process:

The Graduate Program Committee, comprised of four ICS faculty members from at least three different departments/disciplines, meets annually in late spring to review and discuss aggregate data. It makes recommendations to individual students, and to the program faculty as a whole for improvements. The degree requirements are reviewed periodically. The entire Middle East Studies faculty also meets for regular faculty meetings at which time curriculum issues can be brought up.


Resulting Program Changes:

1. Curriculum change: students can petition to count one advanced language course per year in the 10 courses required for the degree. This change was made to ensure that students are prepared to pass the rigorous language exam, and can conduct research in the language upon graduation.
2. More flexibility has been built into the program so that students on the Politics track can take more Humanities courses and vice versa. This change was enacted to ensure that the interdisciplinary nature of the program was emphasized.


Date of Most Recent Program Review:

1. Curriculum change: students can petition to count one advanced language course per year in the 10 courses required for the degree. This change was made to ensure that students are prepared to pass the rigorous language exam, and can conduct research in the language upon graduation.
2. More flexibility has been built into the program so that students on the Politics track can take more Humanities courses and vice versa. This change was enacted to ensure that the interdisciplinary nature of the program was emphasized.


Attachments (if available)