UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The first workstream report from the Academic Portfolio and Program Review (APPR) committee is now available to the Penn State community. The report provides a high-level overview of all bachelor’s and associate degrees at Penn State, focusing on student interest and employment alignment.
“In support of ongoing University efforts to create transformative experiences for all students, our goal with the APPR project is to evaluate undergraduate and graduate programs and to develop a process for future portfolio reviews that support our efforts to connect academic offerings with our mission, goals, student interest and workforce needs,” said Tracy Langkilde, interim executive vice president and provost and APPR executive sponsor. “The data compiled from this report is meant to serve as a resource for further discussion and analysis, in combination with other future APPR reports, and not as a standalone decision-making tool regarding specific programs.”
To learn more about the APPR process and ask questions, faculty, staff and students are invited to attend the next virtual APPR Insight Session hosted by the APPR leadership team on March 27 from noon to 1:30 p.m. via Teams.
First workstream report
To develop this report, the APPR workstream partnered with Hanover, an external consultant, to gather information and data around bachelor's and associate degrees at Penn State using multiple publicly available data sources, including historic degree conferrals at Penn State and across Pennsylvania and labor market statistics.
The report, created by Hanover and titled “Academic Portfolio Optimization: Undergraduate Degree Programs,” makes a connection between academic programs and expected state labor market projections for each program up through 2033, categorizing programs using Hanover’s approach for providing an overview of a college or university academic portfolio. The report has been previously shared with Penn State senior leadership, the Academic Leadership Council and APPR Steering Committee.
Visit the APPR website to review the data and supplemental materials. To share feedback about the report, complete this form or email appr@psu.edu.
Future reports
Each APPR workstream group will be developing and sharing reports of their data and findings. The other reports will focus on:
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A Pennsylvania county-level labor market assessment that includes demographic data based on age and ethnicity.
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A dashboard with Penn State programs at the campus and regional level (the data from the other reports will also be built into the dashboard).
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A benchmark analysis of how peer institutions conduct their own regular portfolio and program reviews.
To learn more, community members can visit the APPR website to sign up for the monthly newsletter or information on attending a monthly Insight Session.