IR and QA office
The Institutional Research and Quality Assurance (IRQA) department ensures achievement of quality and standards as envisaged in the university’s Vision and Mission. It also strives to provide quality services in academic and academic support services in SUN, and evaluate best practices of national and international academic institutions. This department works towards meeting the guidelines/standards/accreditation requirements provided by the National Universities Commission (NUC) and International Accreditation Agencies.
The Institutional Research (IR) is responsible for planning, designing data collection instruments, gathering, compiling, analyzing and disseminating information to operational executives and strategic decision makers. The major role of the IR unit is to measure, analyze and report findings that facilitate in gauging the level of Institutional Effectiveness (IE), identifying gaps and making amendments in the processes of Institutional Effectiveness.
Quality Assurance (QA) reviews various feedback and IE reports for each academic year. The findings and suggestions on the feedback are disseminated to all heads of the units after approval from the Vice Chancellor for necessary decisions and actions to improve academic and academic support services. The QA unit designs appropriate methodologies for meeting the quality standards of the institution in academic and academic support services to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the institution.
The goals of the IRQA department are to:
- Develop and maintain quality standards in the institution
- Evaluate the Institutional Effectiveness through auditing the academic and academic support service processes, identifying any gaps and disseminating information to all stakeholders
- Evaluate the implementation of actions and outcomes for self-study purposes on a longitudinal time frame
- Be a center for collection, compilation and analysis of data
- Develop IE & feedback tools, and evaluate the institutional performance accordingly in an academic year
- Comply with national accreditation standards along with classification frameworks
- Facilitate the institution in obtaining international accreditations, ratings and rankings
- Identify national and international institutions, and coordinate for best practices and benchmarking
- Provide inputs for strategic plan review
- Facilitate the Faculty Evaluation System (FES), Staff Evaluation System (SES), Senate (ST), and Board of Trustees (BOT) evaluation systems
- Coordinate submission and review of institutional planning, closing reports, MIS Reports and fortnight reports
- Coordinate review of the Institutional Effectiveness system.
A. INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH
i. Planning and Decision Support
The Institutional Research (IR) unit identifies the data requirements, plan and develops assessment tools helpful in gathering appropriate information for increasing Institutional Effectiveness. The unit compiles, analyzes and disseminates information for decision making in the process of Institutional Effectiveness. It provides inputs for preparing and evaluating strategic plan, annual and semester plans.
ii. Feedback Survey
Conducting various surveys that helps in assessing the status and requirements of SUN among the stakeholders is a major responsibility of the Institutional Research Unit. Student, staff, graduate and employer perceptions and opinions are imperative in determining the future directions of SUN. Therefore, IR reviews, develops, plans and implements appropriate survey tools, analyzes and disseminates the results for appropriate actions.
iii. National and International Accreditation
The IR Unit is responsible for the processes of national and international accreditation by coordinating and collecting necessary institutional data & documents required for national as well as international accreditation.
iv. Facilitating Performance Evaluation System
The IR unit helps in developing the tools for Performance Evaluation Systems of evaluating Faculty and Staff. It collects and analyzes information on various stake holders and evaluates their performance through a predefined evaluation systems and forwards the evaluated results to decision makers.
B. QUALITY ASSURANCE
i. Quality Enhancement
The institution is committed to excellence in all aspects of academics and academic support service departments as envisioned in its Vision statement. The Quality Assurance (QA) unit ensures there is continuous enhancement of the institutional goals in meeting the specified standards and requirements across all areas of Academics and Academic Support Services.
ii. Developing Institutional Policies
IRQA department is responsible for preparing, amending, ensuring compliance and evaluating the policies/procedures of SUN.
iii. Quality Auditing
The IRQA department coordinates and conducts audit of academic and academic support services. The academic audits include: audit of curriculum and CDDs at the start of every academic year (AY) and review of course files, course reports, CDP uploads, CDP implementation, quality check of question papers every semester etc. The audit of academic support services include: start of AY preparations, start of semester preparations, semester closing, uploads on ERP, website, other relevant portals etc.
Recommendations on all the gaps identified are sent to the concerned units, departments and schools, and are urged to implement necessary actions to ensure that such gaps are closed.
iv. Ensuring compliance with accreditation standards
The QA unit keeps track of all the latest updates in the NUC standards and reviews its impact on the institutional policies and procedures. It is the responsibility of the QA unit to ensure that all the necessary amendments as per the latest updates are reflected in the appropriate policies. It ensures that all the important documents of the institution are amended as per the changes in the standards set by NUC.
C. OUTREACH AND ACCREDITATION
i. International Accreditation
The IRQA department facilitates the institution in obtaining recognized international accreditations for its various Programmes at SUN’s Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). The department also identifies recognized global ranking agencies for achieving ranking of the institution to enhance its brand image. Some of the ranking agencies currently identified include QS, Time Higher Education, Shanghai etc.
ii. Benchmarking
Benchmarking in higher education is an important tool for setting higher goals and achieving them through defining specific academic processes and procedures. SUN benchmark its Key Performance Indicators and processes with institutions both inside and outside Nigeria for the purpose of improving its processes, programmes and the operations of the institution. SUN enters into Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with institutions at Nigerian and international levels to make the benchmarking process more realistic and useful.
Apart from external benchmarking, SUN processes also include internal benchmarking, wherein all academic & academic support service units at SUN have predefined Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) which are to be achieved as per benchmarks which are developed based on the previous year’s performance. The IRQA department reviews the benchmark set by different units and guides them on updating the same during the planning review of all units. SUN has also adopted standardizing CDPs (Syllabus), nature of assessment tools, quality check of question papers to meet learning outcomes, and programme learning outcomes linked with the skills and competencies desirable by the industry at the academic level.
iii. Best Practices
SUN policy and procedures are prepared based on the guidelines provided by NUC standards and takes into consideration some of the best practices followed at a similar level of NUC and outside of NUC. SUN reviews its policy and procedure manuals before the start of the academic year and incorporates the necessary changes for the coming year. Yearly reviews are carried out at the end of the spring semester to identify the statuses of current practices followed at SUN, and to align with the requirements of NUC.
iv. Facilitating Data for Awards, Ranking and Listing
The QA unit provides data to other departments which are working towards achievement of renowned awards and listing of SUN at national and international levels. The department helps in preparing documents, evaluating and developing application forms and equivalencies for Programmes.
Q: What is IRQA?
A: IRQA means Institutional Research and Quality Assurance.
Q: What is DAP
A: Director of Academic Planning
Q: What are the functions of IRQA in the institution?
A: Their functions are: planning and decision support, feedback survey, national and international accreditation, facilitating the Performance Evaluation System, quality enhancement, developing institutional policies, quality auditing and ensuring compliance with accreditation standards.
Q: When was SUN’s Licensure?
A: SUN was licensed (Provisional License) on the 28th of May 2018, and secured full operational license to operate statutorily as a private university in Nigeria on the 10th of November 2022.
Q: What is the number of academic programmes with full accreditation status in the university?
A: The university began its operation in 2018, and as of November 2023, 11 programmes were accredited.
Q: Who designs feedback forms?
A: The IRQA team designs feedback forms before the event plan, and analyzes the feedback 48 hours after the event.
Q: Can I submit event reports without feedback analysis?
A: No, feedback analyses are compulsory additions in event report submissions.
Q: What is the full meaning of CDD?
A: CDD stands for Course Definite Document.
Q: What is the full meaning of CDP?
A: CDD stands for Course Delivery Package.
Q: What is the full meaning of IE tools?
A: IE tools stands for Institutional Effectiveness tools.
Q: What are the full meanings of FES and SES?
A: FES stands for Faculty Evaluation System, while SES stands for Staff Evaluation System.
Q: What is the total number of academic programmes in the university?
A: There are 22 academic programmes in the University as of AY-22-23.
Q: Has SUN gotten its Full Operational License?
A: Yes, SUN received its full operational License (Permanent License) to operate as a private university in Nigeria on the 10th of November 2022 from the National Universities Commission (NUC) and the Ministry of Education.
Q: How many schools does SUN have?
A: There are five (5) schools in SUN: School of Arts, Management and Social Science (SAMSS); School of Science and Information Technology (SSIT); School of Basic Medical Sciences (SBMS); School of Legal Studies (SLS); and the School of Post Graduate Studies (SPGS).
Q: Has SUN gotten approval to commence postgraduate programmes?
A: Yes, NUC has given SUN approval to commence postgraduate programmes effective from 2023/2024 academic session. The postgraduate programmes are:
- M.Sc. and Ph.D. Economics
- M.Sc. and Ph.D. Entrepreneurship
- M.Sc. and Ph.D. International Relation and Diplomatic Studies
- M.Sc. and Ph.D. Forensic Accounting
- M.Sc. and Ph.D. Management
- M. Sc. And Ph.D. Microbiology
- M. Sc. And Ph.D. Biochemistry
- M.Sc. and Ph.D. Software Engineering
- M.Sc. and Ph.D. Computer Science
- M.Sc. and Ph.D. Mass Communication
- Master of Business Administration (MBA).