Self Study - Maharishi University of Management

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40 S E L F - S T U D Y R E P O R T 2 0 0 9 the final report are available to the entire University community at the reserve desk of the Library. Effects of the self-study process The self-study process gives an institution the opportunity to reflect on its mission and to enliven the channels of internal and external communication by which it can assess its performance in relation to its mission and purposes. The research and writing of our self-study took place between the spring of 2008 and the spring of 2009. In the process of researching and writing the Self-Study Report, many individuals contributed ideas for improving the University’s efficiency and effectiveness. During the late spring and summer of 2009, before the Self-Study Report was sent to the Higher Learning Commission, it was distributed in draft form to selected trustees, members of the Executive Council, and to key academic leaders for their review and comment. This brought out another round of ideas for institutional improvement. Trustees met with members of the steering committee and University Council and have given input into the process. Below is an account of the new ideas, initiatives, and directions resulting from the self-study process. Some were intended outcomes; others evolved as a correlate of the process. These results show how we were able to use the self-study process to improve effectiveness and establish a stronger foundation for progress in the coming decades. 1. IDENTIFICATION OF GROWTH CENTERS FOR STRATEGIC FOCUS One goal of the self-study process was to maximize the intelligent direction of internal resources through an analysis of degree programs to identify growth opportunities and areas of non-growth. In the late 1990s, strategic planning was focused on four academic growth centers that presented special opportunities for us — Maharishi Vedic Medicine, Business Administration, Digital Media, and Computer Science. Of these, Business Administration and Computer Science have been the engines for substantial growth of enrollment through programs in which international students who have several years of professional work experience in those fields come to MUM to study on campus for 6-7 months and then seek employment in the U.S. to pay off their institutional loans. Digital Media became the “Communications and Media” program in 2007 and has shown a substantial increase in enrollment, and there are plans to add a Master of Arts degree to that department. Maharishi Vedic Medicine stalled in the middle of the decade as the faculty took more time to formulate a curriculum for a professional doctorate, but it kept an undergraduate program in Physiology and Health throughout the decade and began a pre-med track in 2009 that has proved to be very popular. Our intent now is to use the doctoral curriculum in a planned medical school that would offer the M.D. degree.
S E L F - S T U D Y R E P O R T 2 0 0 9 41 2. IMPROVING THE ASSESSMENT OF STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES Through the self-study process, we also sought to improve the assessment of student learning outcomes in general education and in the majors and graduate programs. The undergraduate dean led a review of the general education assessment program that resulted in some changes to the instruments used. In 2007, the faculty started writing Closing the Loop reports on the individual courses they teach, describing student learning outcomes and using those to make recommendations to improve the individual course. These reports are available in the Resource Room. They are used by program directors and department chairs to compile the annual assessment reports and by the undergraduate dean to collect data on general education outcomes assessment that takes place in individual courses. 3. EVALUATING THE GRADUATE PROGRAMS The self-study process led us to assess the relative strengths of the graduate programs with an eye to increasing student enrollment in those with the strongest current growth potential. The masters program in Computer Science has shown remarkable growth over the last decade, and the more recent (2005) introduction of a comparable MBA program for professional accountants has shown substantial growth. Likewise, the standard MBA program has stabilized enrollment at sustainable levels. The self-study process also directed attention to the three PhD programs, Maharishi Vedic Science, Management, and Physiology. The Maharishi Vedic Science department has produced a slow but steady flow of doctoral graduates whose work has brought out new knowledge about the Vedic literature and about the applications of the Transcendental Meditation program. In that, it is achieving its purpose. While Maharishi Vedic Science is a new discipline specific to our institution, the doctoral program in Management is subject to familiar national standards. The program director, Dr. Dennis Heaton, is largely responsible for teaching the discipline-specific courses and preparing students for the comprehensive exams, though he is supported by a variety of faculty teaching methodology courses. Though Dr. Heaton has published extensively, the department has not received any research grants or contracts to support doctoral students’ research in the past decade. It has produced a small number of graduates whose research covers a wide range of topics. This might tax the ability of the faculty to support the quality of research that would be recognized nationally. The doctoral program in Physiology is essentially a research tutorial for students working on grants. It does not have a program of courses to be taken by new students. Two students were admitted in the past few years. A few other students are making slow progress on their dissertations while working full-time without grant support.
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THE FOUNDING GOALS OF MAHARISHI UNI
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Self Study - Maharishi University of Management

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