Evaluation of Academic Educational Program (1): focusing on planning, objectives, content & implementation) (the Case of Imam Ali University)

Teaching and assessment, not just in the sense of measuring academic achievement but in the sense of evaluation of its both process and product, are not only complementary but each is one the two sides of one coin, and they are identified two complementary parameters of a curriculum. Training is a process to which major parts of material and intellectual resources of majority of nations are allocated and such an immense expense is identified as a long-term investment. This rationale justifies an accurate, a comprehensive and continuous evaluation of the performance of educational organization. As an attempt in this trend, this study tried to evaluate the academic (non-military trainings) program of Imam Ali (military) University from the professors and student's perspectives. To do so, they were encouraged to fill out a 100- item valid and reliable questionnaire addressing the four primary parameters of the respective program including: planning; objectives, content, and implementation out of nine parameters in terms of the extent of compatibility of the them with those of a conventional academic curriculum. Quantitative analyses of the data in terms of frequency analysis revealed that the curriculum planning requires urgent revision so that it can meet the criteria of a conventional academic program. However, the educational objectives were evaluated positive, though the student's perspectives cannot be evaluated as reliable as those of the professors due to the farmer's lesser degree of awareness. Moreover, coordination between the content and planning as well as the objectives of the program is not much satisfactory, which similarly requires reconsiderations aimed at enhancing the content of the program.