Office of Academic Program Review, Assessment & Accreditation (OAPRAA)

OAPRAA’s mission is to aid Vanderbilt University in being “a center for scholarly research, informed and creative thinking, and service to the community at large” by supporting the twin efforts of maintaining compliance with federal regulations and engaging in continuous innovation across all of its initiatives, programs, and services.

The office’s work is generally categorized by one of the following strategic priorities:

The Assessment of Educational Programs, Administrative Offices, and Student Services Units

OAPRAA will provide training, advice, and support to the Vanderbilt community regarding best practices in the assessment of goals, objectives, and learning outcomes to promote continued innovation, improvement, and responsiveness.

The Process of Programmatic Change

OAPRAA will provide training, advice, and support to the Vanderbilt community regarding adding, closing, or making significant changes to for-credit academic programs, and will be the repository of all program change proposals that constitute a substantive change as defined by our institutional accreditor. The OAPRAA team will facilitate the review of proposals in the PCCAP process and will communicate with relevant parties about its progress. Please read more about the process for Proposals to Create or Change Academic Programs (PCCAP) by clicking on the tile below. PCCAP is not required for course-level changes. PCCAP may not be required for program-level changes if they do not constitute a substantive change; please consult with OAPRAA staff for a determination.

For proposals involving non-credit offerings, please visit the AdvancED: Institute for the Advancement of Higher Education website.

For support in these areas, or for general inquiries, please email our shared inbox or reach out to a member of the OAPRAA team.