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2008 Annual Reports

NASPAA’s Commission on Peer Review and Accreditation requests an annual report from every accredited program that is not currently in accreditation review or in its self study year. 

The form contains the traditional standard-by-standard inquiry regarding any changes over the past year. It also contains a numerical input section, so that the Commission can identify quantitative trends in the program over time. Note that a narrative response is required for Standards 2.0 Mission and 8.0 Budget, as COPRA anticipates there will be activity or changes in these areas every year. A narrative response is also required for any issues COPRA may have noted in your last accreditation decision letter. If you are operating under a "monitoring" provision, the appropriate standard will be displayed at the top of your individual form. A link to your last accreditation decision letter is also accessible through your form.


Background Information about the Definitions to be Used in Responding to Numerical Entries on the form

Number of completed APPLICATIONS (for accredited degree program only) received for current academic year 2007-08: Please use whatever definition your program employs for defining a completed application. COPRA’s interest will be trends, not absolute numbers, so please make a note for your own records of what definition and data source you used.

Number of New ADMISSIONS (regular & probationary) for current academic year (2007-08). 

Number of A) Full-Time and B) Part-Time NEW ENROLLMENTS for current academic year. Please feel free to use your own program’s definitions, but again, please make a note so that your definition is consistent over time.

Number of program DEGREES granted last academic year: This box is asking you for the number of degrees your institution granted ONLY in the program that is accredited by NASPAA. For example, if your institution has both an MPA and an MPP degree, but only the MPA is accredited, then only provide the number of MPA graduates. If both the MPA and MPP degrees are accredited, then provide the sum of those degrees awarded.

Number of Core Faculty: In the self study you provided to COPRA, you identified a set of core faculty that serve in the accredited program. Based on the definitions of core faculty you used in your last self study, identify how many core faculty are currently serving. (Remember, this is referring to CORE faculty only. Please do not enter all the names of your associated or adjunct faculty.) You are also asked to identify their % teaching load and department. The request for “% teaching load” is meant to be fairly general: if you have a core faculty member teaching four courses, with three of them for students in the MPA program, you should enter 75% in the box. If there are special situations (course reductions due to research or administrative responsibilities), just use common sense, focus on the teaching load, and be consistent over time. This section is simply intended to give schools the opportunity to identify teaching trends over time to COPRA. 

Budget for the accredited degree program (not the school or dept.): COPRA recognizes that there are as many different ways of doing budgeting for accredited programs as there are accredited programs! The intent is for programs to identify their budget trends over time, and it is perfectly acceptable to adapt your particular budgetary methodology in your response. As much as you can, try to separate out the budget just for the accredited program, starting with the total for program, including salaries. Enter that at letter A. Then identify the portion of that going to faculty and staff salaries only, including adjuncts, and enter it at letter B. Again, use common sense and approximation if some of the budget numbers are too aggregated to identify just the accredited program’s portion—and be consistent over time. 

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