A 360-degree evaluation framework for doctoral programs

Due to increasing international competitiveness, higher education institutions face the need to assess and enhance the quality of their activities. Usually, industrial quality management models are employed, which successfully assess administrative functions but fail to address educational processes. In this paper we present an assessment framework that overcomes the shortcomings of existing quality evaluation models. Inspired by the 360-degree feedback, we collect the perceptions of the individuals related to an educational program. Furthermore, with the introduction of a dual-scale assessment, we enable stakeholders to judge not only the fulfillment of each criterion but also its relevance. Together with the self-definition of the program, this allows the validation of the program´s objectives, as well as quality assessments with a focus on both the program´s and the stakeholders´ priorities. We provide a formal definition, a set of quality criteria and a categorization of the relevant stakeholders for the assessment of doctoral programs in Computer Science. Furthermore, we present the analytical methods for the weighting and aggregation of information.