The Program Self-Study Report was completed in the summer of 2014. For the programs under review, the MA and Ph.D. in War Studies contained the degree level expectations for these programs, an analytical assessment of the programs, course outlines, program-related data, survey data from the Office of Quality Assurance, and appendices with sample examinations and CVs of faculty members. Two arm’s-length external reviewers (Dr. David Haglund, Queen’s University and Dr. Michael Neiberg, U.S. Army War College) were selected from a list of possible reviewers and approved by the Deans’ Council. They reviewed the self-study documentation and conducted a site visit to RMC on 15 and 16 January 2015. The visit included interviews with the Dean of Arts, Associate Vice-Principal, Research, Chair of War Studies, Associate Chair of War Studies, Head of the History Department, Head of the Political Science Department, as well as several members of the War Studies faculty, two of whom were former chairs of the program in addition to several graduate students in the programs. The ERC subsequently produced a report based on the Self-Study and site visit.
The ERC identified a number of strengths of the Graduate program in War Studies Engineering including overall, the program retains a solid national and international reputation, admission requirements are consistent with graduate programmes at other Ontario universities, and the academic expectations of students enrolled in the programme are in some cases more rigorous, and teaching and student mentoring as particular strengths of the program. The ERC also identified several areas of concern that influence the status and quality of the program including the need to better track the accomplishment of learning outcomes that relate to specific GDLEs, The need for new faculty to broaden its areas of coverage, the need for more faculty members who can teach in French, the need for better IT strategy and blended learning platforms, the need for a full-time Programme Representative, the need to involve senior faculty from the Department of Political Science and other relevant departments in long-term challenges confronting the program, and the need for more research support.
The ERC Report is largely positive. It confirms that War Studies is delivering an academically rigorous program to its students and that its standards meet or exceed those of similar programs in Ontario. However, the ERC also identified some areas requiring improvement and some dangers to the future health of the program. RMC is already taking steps to address the issues raised, such as the balance of course offerings, and the accuracy of the course listings in the RMC graduate calendar. We have introduced new hardware and software to support the program’s video conference courses and developing the capabilities of faculty who are interested in contributing to the program. RMC has re-organized the administrative support for the program in the form of a post-graduate program representative with cleaner reporting lines. Since the initial site-visit, travel policies have been simplified. Work related to the hiring of new faculty with expertise relevant to the program, and the provision of additional funds to support conference and research travel are currently in progress.