Assessing Higher Education: Relevance of Vision and Mission Statements: A Case Study of USIU

Abstract

United States International University (USIU) has recently been going through
workshops and training about the education effectiveness and learning outcomes of
its programs. The article examines whether the learning outcomes of USIU are being
instilled in the student's academic and personal lives. Learning outcomes of USIU
are very important throughout a student's academic life however, there are no
set mechanisms of finding out if the stated learning outcomes are being achieved.
The main objective of this study is to find out the level of awareness of the USIU
vision and mission outcomes among the university students. It also aims at providing
ideas on how best the vision and mission outcomes can be communicated effectively
to the university community.
This preliminary study is an important step in higher education assessment where
visions and missions are stated boldly without due attention to the learning processes
among students. For instance, when we talk of higher order thinking, is the student
able to collect, analyze and demonstrate data or information to formulate conclusions with
a critically and creatively holistic manner? How do we evaluate the assimilation of the
mission and vision statements?

Journal of Language, Technology & Entrepreneurship in Africa Vol. 1 (2) 2009: pp. 112-119