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Academic Affairs

Questions for Boards

Recommended Resources

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Why this is important.

Governing boards should recognize that assuring educational quality is at the heart of demonstrating institutional success and that they are accountable for that assurance.

While academic administrators and faculty members are responsible for setting learning goals, developing and offering academic courses and programs, and assessing the quality of those courses and programs, boards cannot delegate away their governance responsibilities for educational quality.

AGB empowers trustees to make sure their board and its appropriate committees not only make understanding the elements of educational quality a central feature of their agendas, but also consistently ensure their institution’s programs and resources are focused on the total educational experience, not just traditional classroom activity.

Sources: Making the Grade: How Boards Can Ensure Academic Quality (2nd Edition) by Peter T. Ewell, AGB 2012
AGB Statement on Board Responsibility for the Oversight of Educational Quality , AGB 2011

Questions for boards.

Click below to reveal key questions for your board to consider:

Board and Institution Fundamentals

Consequential Questions:

  1. Is our board’s work aligned with our institution’s strategic vision, goals, and priorities? (fundamentals)
  2. What are our basic indicators of student progression and success? (fundamentals)
  3. Are our board meeting agendas concise and developed with clearly stated desired meeting outcomes? (fundamentals)

Sources:

Making the Grade: How Boards Can Ensure Academic Quality (2nd Edition) by Peter T. Ewell, AGB 2012
AGB Statement on Board Responsibility for the Oversight of Educational Quality , AGB 2011

Board Discussions

Consequential Questions:

  1. Is our board familiar with the various dimensions of academic quality? How apprised is our board of student learning assessments, student retention and graduation rates, stakeholder satisfaction, and academic-program reviews?
  2. Is our academic affairs committee well supported?
  3. Is our board aware of the impact of issues brought before other board committees that deal with academic affairs-related issues?
  4. Does our board translate our charges into annual goals and work plans that align with the board’s governance responsibilities and our institution’s strategic plan?
  5. What kinds of evidence does the institution collect about learning?

Sources:

Making the Grade: How Boards Can Ensure Academic Quality (2nd Edition) by Peter T. Ewell, AGB 2012
AGB Statement on Board Responsibility for the Oversight of Educational Quality , AGB 2011

Board Relationships

Consequential Questions:

  1. How is our board’s working relationship with our president and chief academic officers? How can we improve it?
  2. How can our board best use its authority to ensure quality without micromanaging the faculty and academic leaders?

Sources:

Making the Grade: How Boards Can Ensure Academic Quality (2nd Edition) by Peter T. Ewell, AGB 2012
AGB Statement on Board Responsibility for the Oversight of Educational Quality , AGB 2011

All resources.

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Book
A Guide to Strategic Board Retreats in Higher Education
The current higher education landscape poses a multitude of challenges both old and new that require governing boards to understand their fiduciary roles and act with strategic insight. Board retreats represent an often-underutilized opportunity—removed from everyday operational concerns—to focus on …
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What’s the Best Budget Model for Our Institution?
Editor’s Note: This issue includes a new occasional column called “In Practice” that has practical articles on specific higher education governance topics. I am often asked, “What type of budget model works best for universities?” This is the wrong question or …
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A New Higher Education Governance Model: Embracing Nonprofit Partnerships
Takeaways Mergers, acquisitions, and partnerships are becoming a larger part of many higher education institutions’ strategic plans, which enable college leaders and board members to fully consider those options and continuously evaluate the potential of seeking partnerships and other alliances. It …
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Implementing a University Merger or Acquisition
Takeaways Mergers, acquisitions, and partnerships are becoming a larger part of many higher education institutions’ strategic plans, which enable college leaders and board members to fully consider those options and continuously evaluate the potential of seeking partnerships and other alliances. It …
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Toolkit
Educational Quality Toolkit
This toolkit will help your board and leadership determine how to review, evaluate, and improve the educational quality of each institution in their system.
Learn more
Blog Post
Enhancement of Student Success, the Student Experience, and Campus Inclusion
October 30, 2024 - In September, AGB hosted a webinar discussion concerning the Top Strategic Issues for Boards 2024-2025 report. This is the second in a series of blog posts that summarize the webinar discussion and explore the report’s recommendations. The webinar focused on …
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Trusteeship Article
A Question For Mushtaq Gunja
Mushtaq Gunja serves as executive director of the Carnegie Classification systems and senior vice president at the American Council on Education (ACE), where he oversees running and reimagining the Carnegie framework. Earlier, Gunja served as assistant dean in academic affairs at …
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