Design and implementation of a model for measuring impact indicators in academic programs

Abstract

The National Accreditation Council CNA in the adjustment made to the accreditation model in 2020 through agreement 02 of the National Council of Higher Education CESU, gave greater importance to the measurement of the effects of the actions carried out by the academic programs and institutions (CNA, 2020). Thus, the aspects to be evaluated were formulated in such a way that the institutions must evidence this impact and ensure the relevance of the programs in their social and academic context, as well as the quality they offer to their students. As a result, a process was initiated at the Technological Units of Santander UTS, within the research group on Innovation for the Strengthening of Internal Systems for Higher Quality Assurance - GINACE UTS, to identify the aspects in which the CNA is interested in measuring impact. This motivated the realization of an interdisciplinary work with the different units of the institution, to first identify the result indicators that can generate impact and then design a methodology that allows its quantitative measurement, through the creation of "technical cards" associated with each of the impact indicators. In each technical sheet, a mathematical formula was established to calculate the impact indicator based on the outcome indicators. Finally, this model was implemented in the following academic programs: Electronic Engineering, Telecommunications Engineering and Electromechanical Engineering, which subsequently obtained high quality accreditation.