A Study of the implementation of major recommendations of evaluation teams in selected higher educational institutions of the Asia-Pacific Division

Abstract

The problemn addressed in this study was, To what extent does the external evaluation process of the Asia-Pacific Division of Seventh-day Adventists fulfill the goal of improving colleges, as judged by the degree and timing of implementing the major recommendations? The purpose guiding the study was to define ways to improve the results of the external evaluation process. A sample of 102 persons from a population of 784 administrators and faculty/staff in seven selected senior colleges responded to a written instrument, unique for each coIlege. The major variables studied were the 148 major recommendations from the last two evaluation visits, the extent and timing of implementations, economic stability of the institutions, and reasons given for not implementing. Eleven questions, and six associated hypotheses, had to do with cost, views of administrators and faculty/staff, and influence of economic stabirity of the school on the time frame for and extent of implementing major recommendation. Statistical analyses used t test for independent groups and Pearson's r. There were no significant associations between the three economic variables (average working capital, average liquidity ratio, and average gain/loss) and the extent of implementation of the major recommendations. No significant differences were observed between the perceptions of administrators and the faculty/staff members regarding time frame and the extent of implementation of the major recommendations. High or low cost did not affect the extent of implementation, however, there was a highly significant correlation between working capital and liquidity ratio with the time frame for implementation. The most frequently cited reasons for not implementing recommendations were hiqh cost, not being aware of the recommendations, and lack of expertise. However, there was no association between economic stability and extent of implementation. The study identified critical problems (those with major adverse impact on a colege) in the areas of budget and finance, services, recruitment of students, and government recognition. Common problems (occurring in two or more colleges) were faculty and library upgrading. Recurring problems (an adverse condition uncorrected from the prior evaluation visit) were in the areas of mission, master p1an, faculty, recruitment of students, library, fund-raising, and government recognition. Responses to open-ended questions indicated that more time should be given for the evaluation visit and schools should be helped to plan and implement major recommendations.