Priority 1

Determine the viability of academic programs in the current portfolio

To attract new students to the University and further differentiate the institution, WVU must identify opportunities to grow existing programs and create new programs that are highly relevant and that address the needs of our students and the marketplace.

In order to see where those opportunities are, we must assess the overall “health” of our academic programs and services.

Beginning with the Morgantown campus, we will review and analyze both internal and external quantitative data. We will also consider qualitative factors, such as the uniqueness of the program or its particular value to the University’s land-grant mission.

We will also utilize student interest data along with external benchmarking and industry data to help identify gaps in our academic portfolio that represent opportunities for new academic majors and programs that meet student and industry demand.

This approach will enable us to make informed decisions regarding which programs the University should continue to offer and which programs to either reduce, reconfigure or eliminate, providing resources to invest in areas of growth and opportunity.

WVU must support graduate programs that are impactful and that strengthen and improve our R1 position. The Graduate Education Task Force will continue their work assessing the impact of non-terminal master’s and PhD programs and provide recommendations on how to realign resources to support areas of growth and opportunity.

These efforts are focused initially on WVU’s Downtown and Evansdale campuses and will extend to regional campuses in the future. WVU Health Sciences is leading its own transformation process, although HSC faculty and leadership will participate in helping to identify shared areas of growth and opportunity.

Results to Date

Program Review: Undergraduate majors/programs and terminal master’s and professional master’s degree programs

Identified and collected key performance metrics for undergraduate majors/programs, as well as terminal master’s and professional master’s programs.
Conducted a full review of all main campus undergraduate majors/programs, terminal master’s and professional master’s programs.

Majors/programs of concern were identified and shared with the colleges.
Existing majors/programs with growth opportunity were identified and shared with colleges.
New majors/programs with growth opportunity were identified and shared with colleges.
Presented formal program recommendations to the Board of Governors in June 2021 and 2022.

Received and began review of improvement plans for Phase 1 programs of concern.
Identified targeted programs of opportunity and began working with main campus deans to pursue select growth opportunities.
Launched annual program review process and conducted training on associated systems.
Launched Curriculum Innovation Challenge to inspire innovative ideas for program curriculum development.

Program Review: Non-terminal master’s and PhD programs and tuition waiver analysis

Formed task force to begin assessment of non-terminal master’s and PhD programs and provide recommendations on next steps.
Collected data on enrollments, graduations, applications, acceptances, matriculations and time to degree.
Collected peer institution data on research expenditures.
Launched analysis of graduate programs tuition waiver usage across the Morgantown campus, including both the main campus and HSC; collected data on all tuition waiver types across all on-campus and online doctoral, professional and master’s degree programs.
Assessed peer practices regarding tuition waiver usage.
Shared non-terminal master’s and PhD program review data with main campus deans.
Compiled and shared with deans data for Health Sciences doctoral, professional, master’s and undergraduate programs.
Shared tuition waiver analysis data with main campus and Health Sciences deans.
Completed full review of all main campus PhD and non-terminal master's degree programs. Majors/programs of concern were identified and shared with the colleges. Appeals process was initiated and completed.

View Graduate Program Review Results

Next Steps

Invest in and support new and expanded academic programs with growth potential.
Continue development and review of program improvement plans with identified programs.
Share undergraduate program portfolio review data with WVU Tech leadership.
Provide curriculum development support to program proposals selected through the Curriculum Innovation Challenge.

View Past Timeline