IU Kokomo leading with university accountability policy
Indiana University Kokomo stands at the forefront of accountability by participating in a newly-launched Web site that features an assessment of colleges and universities across the country. College Portrait, a voluntary program, compares student characteristics, costs, student experience and learning outcomes.
The College Portrait Web site, at www.collegeportraits.org, provides high school students, parents, guidance counselors and other stakeholders with access to basic, comparable information. This Web site is a product of the Voluntary System of Accountability project, a partnership between the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.
IU Kokomo Interim Chancellor Stuart Green said participating in the VSA is an important and very public way for the university to hold itself accountable.
"All of higher education must be able to answer the public's questions about our central purpose; what we expect our students to have learned and be able to do when they graduate and how we demonstrate these outcomes," Green said. "In doing this, we get to tell the most important part of our story to the entire community, while also determining for ourselves what it is we value in student learning and how we choose to measure it. This is serious and important business and I am proud of our faculty and staff for we are one of only a handful of Indiana institutions that is participating in this good work."
IU Kokomo is one of only six colleges and universities in Indiana to take part in the College Portrait project at this time. Others include Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, Purdue University, Purdue University Calumet, Indiana State University and University of Southern Indiana.
This initiative began two years ago in an effort to address the issue of accountability among four-year public colleges and universities and to create a new tool to help high school students and their families compare and contrast public four-year institutions. Former IU Kokomo Chancellor Ruth Person was instrumental in structuring this initiative.
IU Kokomo's information can be viewed at www.iuk.edu and by clicking on College Portrait on the home page.
Indiana University Kokomo serves a seven-county primary service area in north central Indiana. The campus offers more than 40 academic programs including four graduate degrees
