CIHE Accreditation Self-Study Report February 2006
Standard Ten: Public Disclosure
Description
New Hampshire Technical Institute maintains a comprehensive website containing 882 pages of information about all aspects of the college. Complete academic information is presented, from programs of study and course descriptions to all academic requirements and policies; the Admissions, Financial Aid, Registrar's, and Bursar's Offices are represented with their own pages; complete Student Life information is presented, including the NHTI Student Handbook in "pdf" format; clear and accurate information on the accreditation of the college and its various programs is prominently displayed; costs of attendance are presented in an up-front, easy-to-find format; the history, mission, values, and vision of the college, along with a message from the President and a set of "fast facts," are shown; and there is a complete personnel/telephone/e-mail directory for administration, faculty, and staff. In addition, the website is maintained by a knowledgeable full-time employee whose title includes "Website Coordinator" and who makes on-demand changes to the information displayed when necessary. A Publication Review Policy in effect at the college ensures that all institutional publications, including the website, are consistent with current catalog content. Recently, the President has created a full-time position, Public Information Assistant, to aid in assuring that publications are accurate and inquiries about NHTI are answered.
In August 2005, NHTI introduced a comprehensive revision of its website, with re-designed graphics and improved navigation for the user. The re-design of the website was reviewed during its development by the various constituencies within the college about which information is presented. Careful attention was paid to continuing the college's policy of presenting sufficient information to allow students and prospective students to make informed decisions about their education. The total conversion to the college's redesigned website is nearly complete at the date of this report.
NHTI's website, which is in compliance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, contains a comprehensive set of general information about the college under the main heading "Welcome to NHTI." On the "home page" of the website, the e-mail address is prominently displayed and is the method that the college uses to encourage general inquiries about itself. Many inquiries are addressed specifically to college departments and offices through the personnel/phone/e-mail directory that is also prominently available on the "home page" of the website, but general inquiries addressed to are received by a minimum of two personnel, including the Director of Communications, within the college's Office of Public Information. Such inquiries are then forwarded on a daily basis to the appropriate person, department, or office for a specific reply. Senders of inquiries to also receive an "auto-reply" advising them that their e-mail has been received and that they should receive a reply within the next 24 hours (excluding weekends and holidays). It is college policy that such inquiries are to be responded to within the promised 24-hour time period. In addition, the college's Director of Communications, who oversees this system, randomly chooses inquiries to whom a personalized reply is sent, asking if the sender has received a satisfactory reply within the promised time frame. If a satisfactory reply has not been received, the Director of Communications then phones or e-mails the person/department/office to whom the inquiry was forwarded, asking that immediate action be taken to respond to and satisfy the inquiry.
In addition, the college provides notice through its website of the availability upon request of its publications. Those interested in obtaining a copy of any college publication may request it through the e-mail address, or a catalog may be obtained by linking from the college website to an interactive form requesting the catalog.
Since NHTI is an agency of New Hampshire state government, its financial record is contained in the State of New Hampshire's Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, available on-line at www.nh.gov/das/accounting. The most recent financial statement for the college may also be obtained by using the e-mail method, or by contacting the college's Chief Financial Officer.
NHTI publishes its catalog each academic year. Beginning with the 2004-05 academic year, the catalog was made available in either the traditional printed and bound 128-page document (the 2005-06 catalog is 132 pages), or in electronic format on a CD-ROM (the college's Student Handbook 2004-2005 was also provided on the same CD as the catalog). Within the catalog, the college is described in terms that are consistent with its Mission/Values/Vision Statement, which is found on page 5 of the catalog. The catalog further includes the obligations and responsibilities of both students and the institution by setting forth, in full, the official college policies regarding payment and refunds; financial aid; programs of study, including special admission requirements; support services; campus life; academic requirements; and general education requirements. Included in the catalog and other authoritative publications such as the Student Handbook 2005-2006 are the college's policies relative to admissions and attendance. Rules and regulations for student conduct are also published therein.
Academic programs; courses currently offered, and other available educational opportunities; academic policies and procedures; the requirements for degrees or other forms of academic recognition; and other items related to attending or withdrawing from the institution are published in the college catalog as well as on the website.
NHTI does not rely solely upon an electronic version of its catalog to fulfill requests; it does maintain hard-copy archives of previous college catalogs sufficient to serve the needs of alumni and returning students.
NHTI makes every effort to ensure that all of its publications, including the website, catalog, student handbook, individual departmental brochures, brochures describing support services, co-curricular and non-academic activities and the like, contain information that is fully consistent with the content of its current catalog and that accurately portrays the conditions and opportunities available at the college. In particular, changes in curriculum and requirements for programs of study, after approval by both the college's Curriculum Committee and its Institute Leadership Team, are typically put into effect only at the beginning of an academic year and are carefully included in the college catalog for that academic year and beyond. A process through which such changes are approved and then included in the new catalog ensures accuracy and completeness. Such changes are also carried through for publication on the college website. In addition, changes that affect the content of other college publications, such as departmental brochures, result in the design and printing of new brochures and other informational publications at the earliest possible opportunity. The college allocates sufficient funds in its budget to ensure that publications are revised in a timely manner.
In addition, the Director of Communications is responsible for ensuring that other forms of communication, such as paid advertising and press releases, accurately reflect the conditions and opportunities available at the college and are consistent with the content of the college catalog.
Similarly, personnel within the Office of Admissions, Office of Financial Aid, Registrar's Office, and Bursar's Office are sufficiently familiar with catalog content and official college policies that they accurately portray the conditions and opportunities available at the college in their written and oral communications with students, prospective students, and the general public.
The Division of Continuing Education publishes a schedule brochure each semester and summer term which includes courses currently offered and other educational opportunities, student fees, charges, and refund policies. This information is also available on the website.
Full-time faculty, their departmental affiliations, academic degrees, and degree- granting institutions are listed in the catalog. A faculty locator system is prominently posted on the website, and a search leads to faculty title, name, phone number, and e-mail address. The names and positions of the college's administrative officers are also listed in the catalog and in the personnel listing of the college's website.
The governing board of NHTI is the NHCTC Board of Trustees, which is appointed by the Governor and Council of the State of New Hampshire. Names of the Governor and Executive Council members, and the NHCTC System Board of Trustees are listed in the catalog. The names in the catalog are current when each issue is published. The NHCTC System's Board of Trustees members' names are listed on the NHCTC System website under About Us, using a link under the title Board of Trustees. The website is reviewed for accuracy annually, and updates are posted whenever changes occur.
NHTI offers some individual courses at other locations and in cooperation with those facilities and off-campus sites. NHTI publishes the locations that pertain to particular courses. For example, dance courses are offered at a local dance facility, and art courses are located at a community art school in order to utilize that school's studio facilities. NHTI's Division of Continuing Education publishes as part of the course schedule the locations of any individual courses that are offered at other sites in the community. Course descriptions in the college catalog and on the website of those courses offered at other locations include such information, as well as information about the additional costs (cost of materials for studio art courses or photography courses, for example). Courses offered as part of the Running Start program, which is briefly described in the catalog, as well as special arrangements with the Marine Enlisted Commissioning Education Program [MECEP], are arranged on a course-by-course basis each semester or annually. Specific sites are available upon request to the Running Start Coordinator, but are not typically published in the catalog or on the website, since enrollment in these courses is limited by agreement. NHTI does not maintain branch campuses or operations at overseas locations that offer complete degrees or certificate programs or support services.
Clinical or practicum locations are available from the academic departments that cooperate with those facilities, and a list of clinical, practicum, and internship sites is contained in the college catalog.
Open houses and student orientations are held several times each year to communicate information to the attending community and prospective and newly enrolled students. NHTI uses newspaper, magazine, and radio and television advertising to communicate, in general, its mission for students' education and academic success.
The NHTI catalog for 2005-2006 lists approximately twenty courses which have not been taught for two consecutive years and which have not been taught during the 2005-2006 year. Most of these courses are in general education areas; the intent is for these courses to be offered as the liberal arts areas continue to expand.
Descriptions of the campus setting, availability of academic and support services, and physical resources are published in the catalog, on the website, and in the college viewbook. Specific co-curricular and non-academic opportunities available to students and the general public are published as "Happenings @ NHTI" on the website and in the weekly Campus Comments, as well as in widely publicized posters and flyers at various campus locations. All continuing co-curricular and non-academic opportunities, from Health Services to Intercollegiate Athletics, are described in printed brochures and on the website.
While the characteristics of the student body are generally described in the catalog as "diverse student population" and "both commuter and resident students," statistics on language, culture, and countries represented can be found in a report generated by the Director of Cross-Cultural Education. These statistics are limited to the students who take advantage of the English-Speakers-of-Other-Languages [ESOL] Program and may not represent all cultures, languages, or countries represented on campus. Age, gender characteristics, and size of the student body are tracked by the BANNER™ system and published annually in an Integrated Post-Secondary Education Data [IPED] report by the Registrar's Office; such information is available upon request to the general public.
The college's "Educated Person Statement of Philosophy" is published in the catalog. Educational outcomes specific to particular programs are typically published by individual departments and distributed to students upon matriculation or upon request. Individual course syllabi and descriptions are on file in the Academic Affairs Office. A description of each course offered at the college is contained both in the catalog and on the website.
Information appropriate to the institutional mission includes rates of retention and graduation. The Completion/Graduation rate is maintained by the Registrar's Office and published in the catalog. The Registrar's Office began tracking retention statistics beginning in the fall of 2004 through a program developed by the NHCTC Information Technology department which tracks cohort groups for inclusion in the IPED report.
Documentation on licensure examination pass rates and demographic data is reported annually to the college by each licensing board and is kept by the respective departments. Some scores are reported by the testing entity only to individual candidates, and the college does not receive these scores.
Information on tuition, insurance, residence hall costs, and other fees such as clinical surcharge, orientation, and graduation fees is published in the catalog and on the website. A "total cost of education" does not appear since it depends on a number of variables such as: (1) the comprehensive fee for credit hours in the Day Division versus the fee for credit hours in the Division of Continuing Education; (2) whether a student is enrolled in a course with a laboratory component or Allied Health program clinical affiliation and thus is responsible for an additional academic instruction fee; (3) whether a student needs liability insurance in the allied health and human service fields; and (4) whether a student will commute or take advantage of the residence hall and meal program. Student financial aid information, as well as a list of additional grants, loans, and scholarships available, is published in the catalog and on the website, and students are encouraged to apply for all available financial aid through the direct mailing of informational postcards. NHTI publishes information both in the catalog and on the website on the associate degree programs of study, outlining a two-year length of study with total credit requirements ranging from 64-82 credit hours. Also published are certificate and diploma programs (these latter to be identified as "Professional Certificate" programs in future catalogs) that require 18-40 credit hours. Information on the average outstanding student debt upon graduation is maintained in the college database system and is available upon request; however, this information is not formally published.
Valid documentation regarding such matters as program excellence and learning goals and outcomes is maintained by individual departments, the Office of Academic Affairs, and the NHCTC System Office, and is updated annually. Success in placement and achievements of graduates are provided to the Office of Institutional and Alumni Development via survey results at the time of graduation, by surveys of employers conducted by individual academic departments, and through updated information provided to the Office of Institutional and Alumni Development through an interactive link on the college website. Success in placement and the achievements of graduates are published in the NHTI Alumni, which is published periodically and direct-mailed to all alumni active addresses; success stories featuring alumni and current students frequently appear in print and broadcast advertising placed by the college in New Hampshire media. Achievements of faculty and documentation thereof are submitted to and maintained by the Vice President of Academic Affairs and are also frequently published in the college's weekly Campus Comments newsletter. The Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs is the advisor to the Honors Program and maintains documentation on the program.
The college's accreditation status is explicitly described in the catalog, on the website, in the viewbook, in Division of Continuing Education semester brochures, in program brochures, and in recruitment materials and other publications, both print and electronic, in which the college's accreditation is mentioned.
On page 4 of the NHTI's 2005-2006 catalog, NHTI's current full accreditation status and its meaning are described. The actual documentation of the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education [CIHE] accreditation is available in the Office of the President. The address of CIHE is provided in the catalog's discussion of accreditation to allow easy public access to validate both the status and meaning of NHTI's accreditation by CIHE.
In March 2001, NHTI adopted a college Publication Development and Review Policy that provides for a systematic process through which the college ensures that print and electronic publications are complete, accurate, available, and current. The policy lists the publications that are covered; assigns responsibility to specific administration, faculty, department heads, and staff to carry out the review and publication process; provides a timeline for the accomplishment of the assigned tasks; and helps to guide college personnel in proposing new publications. It is routine practice for all publications to be reviewed after completion and for careful notation of improvements that may be desirable to be included in future versions of such publications.
Appraisal
NHTI publishes information on its website that is sufficient to allow students and prospective students to make informed decisions about their education. NHTI informs the public of the information available about itself and how inquiries can be addressed. It is also responsive to reasonable requests for information about itself. The institution provides notice as to the availability upon request of its publications.
The description of NHTI in the current catalog is consistent with its mission statement; the catalog also documents the obligations and responsibilities of both students and the institution. The catalog and other authoritative publications present information relative to admission and attendance.
NHTI's publications, both print and electronic, and other forms of communications are consistent with catalog content and accurately portray the conditions and opportunities available at the college.
NHTI publishes the following in print and electronic form: its mission and objectives; requirements, procedures, and policies related to admission and the transfer of credit; student fees, charges, and refund policies; rules and regulations for student conduct; other items related to attending or withdrawing from the institution; academic programs, courses currently offered, and other available educational opportunities; and academic policies and procedures and the requirements for degrees or other forms of academic recognition. However, educational outcomes for every program are not published.
The names, departmental affiliations, academic degrees, and degree-granting institutions for part-time (adjunct) faculty members are not found in the NHTI catalog or on the personnel listing of the website due to the ever-changing nature of that group.
The departmental website pages have format inconsistencies, and not all departments have the "Meet the Faculty" component. In addition, the departmental website pages list varying information on faculty credentials, and most do not include or identify adjunct (part-time) faculty. The degrees and degree-granting institutions of faculty members are not listed in the website's personnel locator system.
NHTI publishes the locations and programs available at other instructional locations at which students can take courses, along with a description of the programs and services available at each location. The exception to this is those courses offered by special arrangement through the Running Start Coordinator or the Marine Enlisted Commissioning Education Program [MECEP] Prep Coordinator.
The course description section of the 2005-2006 catalog contains courses that have not been offered or taught for two consecutive years and will not have been offered or taught during the academic year 2005-2006.
A description of the size and characteristics of the student body, the campus setting, the availability of academic and other support services, the range of co-curricular and non-academic opportunities available to students and the general public, and those institutional learning and physical resources from which a student can reasonably be expected to benefit are available through NHTI publications or through the website.
NHTI makes public statements of its goals for students' education and, to some degree, the success of students in achieving those goals. Information on student success includes rates of retention and other measures of student success appropriate to institutional mission are maintained but are not formally published for easy public access. Recent information regarding pass rates for licensure examinations is also maintained but in most cases is not formally published for easy public access.
Because NHTI has a tuition system that is determined on the basis of the number of credits for which individual students are enrolled, and because of other variables such as a different comprehensive fee for "day" as opposed to "evening" courses, it is difficult to arrive at a "total cost of education."
Information on average outstanding student debt upon graduation is not published or readily provided to prospective students.
Departments maintain a variety of documentation supporting statements regarding such matters as program excellence, learning outcomes, success in placement, and achievements of graduates or faculty; however, this documentation is not maintained by the Director of Communications.
NHTI's statements about its current accreditation status are accurately and explicitly worded.
NHTI has a systematic process in place that provides periodic review so that its print and electronic publications are kept complete, accurate, available, and current, and the results of the review are used for correction, if necessary, and general improvement.
Projection
NHTI will continue its carefully defined process of ensuring that its publications in both electronic and printed formats, its communications through press releases and various forms of paid advertising, and both written and oral information provided by the various offices of the college are accurate in terms of presenting the conditions and opportunities available at the college; NHTI will continue to maintain, revise, and update both its electronic and printed publications according to the Publication Development and Review Policy.
It is not anticipated that NHTI will discontinue offering its catalog or other authoritative publications in printed, hard-copy form. Both current and prospective students, as well as faculty, administration, and staff, have indicated through a record of their requests their desire to have the catalog and other important publications available in printed format.
A review of the listing of courses in the catalog, with particular attention to those courses that have not been taught within the last two years, will take place through Department Heads, the Curriculum Committee, and the Academic Affairs Office to determine the future of such courses.
The college will address the publication for the general public of its indicators of student success, including rates of retention, graduation, and pass rates on licensure examinations. Public disclosure of such information will be addressed by the college and its respective academic departments.
Departments will continue documenting supporting statements about program excellence, learning outcomes, success in placement, and achievements of graduates. Care will be taken to ensure that such statements are supported by a record of facts.
NHTI will continue to publish accurate information about its accreditation status.