Two bachelor degree programs and 11 graduate programs at Mississippi State University were placed on three-year review status at the recent March meeting of the Board of Trustees. These programs were placed on review because they do not currently meet state Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL) requirements for numbers of graduates or student credit hour
production.
Across the eight-university IHL system, 39 programs were placed on three-year probation and 17 will be suspended or phased out as a result of IHL’s most Academic Productivity Review, which is conducted periodically.
Undergraduate studies and programs were targeted for not meeting the Board of Trustees standards of productivity. The standards are 15 majors per faculty member for popular academic majors or 225 credit hours per faculty for academic service units. These measures are a better gauge of academic productivity than setting a single graduation rate for all 847 academic units. Master’s degree programs are targeted if they fall below three graduates over a five-year period and doctoral programs are flagged if they average fewer than 1.5 graduates over five years.
The bachelor’s degree in musical education and entomology/ plant pathology were flagged for a three-year probation. This probation means that this is a period for the department heads and deans to come together and figure out new ways of enrollment and recruitment into these programs.
Most of the undergraduate programs recommended for review were in MSU’s agricultural units. The agricultural units reported non-instructional faculty in their original reports and thus lowered their ratios.
“Sadly, they (IHL) use the word probation,” Dr. George Rent, associate provost of academic affairs, said. “However, they should call it a three-year review. Society is more outcome based.”
MSU does required in-house checks every five years. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools require this. This is then lead into a self study done by faculty and staff members then sent off to a group of peers who later come back and help the college identify their programs of
concern.
IHL however looks only the quantitative data, rather than other numbers.
“IHL only looks at numbers and nothing else, that can pose serious
problems,” Rent said.
Master’s degree programs cited for low numbers of graduates include those
in architecture, biochemistry, entomology, genetics, plant pathology, and
poultry science, all of which are the only programs in Mississippi and are
justified on the basis of state need and the university’s mission.
“We still want to try to satisfy our students and incoming students as much
as we can during this time,” Rent said.
Some graduate programs at MSU will have their admission suspended. This
simply means that the programs where new students are not allowed to enroll
into the program. Those two programs are as follows, agricultural economics
and engineering mechanics.
Doctoral programs cited by the IHL are those in computer engineering, where
enrollment is increasing and in plant pathology, which is important to
Mississippi’s agricultural base.
Some students might fear that will not have the opportunity to get a degree
or higher any of these programs, but Rent reassures the students.
“We don’t know what will happen,” Rent said. “We (the administration) might
have to make some of these programs into tracks so that the student’s need
will be feed.”
There has been some speculation that all these probations and phasing out
of programs could be related to budget cuts.
“While the process may not save money in the short-term, it will allow
campuses to focus limited resources where they can provide the most needed
support,” Dr. William McHenry, assistant commissioner for academic affairs
with the Mississippi IHL, said.
“This is not a good way of saving money,” Rent said. “This is ongoing
process, so I don’t see why it would save money for the state.”
IHL also recommended a phase-out of the master’s in systems management,
where admissions were suspended two years ago. Phasing out of a program
simply means that the program that currently do not have students enrolled
and the likelihood of recruiting new students to the program is slim.
Rent said that this usually occurs in other states other than Mississippi.
The process might be different, but the outcomes are usually the same.
“This is not new, it is a periodic check done by the IHL, but the process
has changed,” Rent said. “It has changed three times since I have been here
at Mississippi State.”
“Will there be a big impact at MSU? Probably not,” Rent said. “We have a
lot of programs to suit the needs of the student.”
“This probation could lead to a later restoration,” Pamela Smith, IHL
spokeswoman said. “And could lead to a dramatic change later down the line.”
MSU faculty and administration will continue to work with the deans and
department heads affected by the IHL’s recent actions.
“We hope to catch these problems early in these programs that might exist,”
Rent said. “And we hope to clean them out.