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Program Assessment

A primary goal of the Graduate School is the continuous improvement of graduate education at NC State. Program assessment achieves that goal by providing metrics to measure the effectiveness of programs and guidelines to evaluate, modify and enhance them.

Believe it or not:

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Facutly and students work with Pyroman in the Textile Protection And Comfort Center (TPACC) on Centennial campus. Photo by Marc Hall

Assessment is a hot topic!

Increased scrutiny on higher education at both the state and federal levels has triggered several recent changes to how we review and assess academic programs at NC State. As of summer 2025, our programs are reviewed and assessed through four different processes.

For each of these four review processes, the following table summarizes which credentials are covered, what the review cycle is, who requires the review, who manages the process, what the foci are, what the outputs of the process are and how the resulting information is shared.

Strategic program review Outcomes assessmentAPRABiennial productivity review
Covered credentialsDegree progs not specially accreditedDegree progs Transcripted certificatesAll degree programsAll degree programs
Cycle7-10 yearsYearly7 years2 years
Required byNC StateNC State and SACSCOCUNC-SOUNC-SO
Managed byOAA and Grad SchoolOAA and Grad SchoolOAA and Grad SchoolUNC-SO
FociQuality
Vision
Learning
Stu learning
Curriculum
Stu demand
Stu careers
Costs
Demand
Productivity
Stu careers
ROI
OutputReview rpt Action plan 
Improvement
Improvement on curricula and student supportNC State recommendations on program sizeBenchmark on program productivity and quality 
Shared withProg/Dept
College
NC State leadership
Prog/Dept
College
NC State leadership
Prog/dept
College
NC State leadership
UNC-SO
Board of Governors