In accordance with the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) Institutional Quality Assurance Process (IQAP), the Program Chair and review group submitted the Programme Self-Study report on Oct 17, 2024. For the program under review, it contained the degree-level expectations, an analytical assessment of the program, course outlines, program-related data, survey data from the Office of Quality Assurance and appendices with sample examinations and CVs of faculty members. The External Review Committee (ERC) was comprised of two arm’s-length external reviewers (Dr. Moe Hashemi, Mount Allison University, and Dr. Christian Keen, Université Laval) who were selected from a list of possible reviewers and approved by the Deans of Social Sciences and Humanities. An internal reviewer, Maj. Jason Zwicker, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, was also selected for participation on the ERC. They reviewed the self-study documentation and conducted a virtual site visit to RMC from 2-4 Dec 2024. During the site visit, the ERC met with the VP Academic, the Director of Quality Assurance, the Dean of Social Science and Humanities, the Department Head and Program Chair, faculty members, alumni, students registered in the programs under study, the Head of the Writing Centre and the Librarian-in-chief. The reviewers submitted their report on 28 Jan 2025.
In their report, the ERC expresses the opinion that the BAdmin program at RMC is a unique and valuable educational experience, meticulously designed to prepare future leaders for the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). The ERC identified a number of strengths of the BAdmin program including the diverse educational and professional backgrounds of faculty, their availability and willingness to support students in their career decisions, that the small class sizes foster a supportive and interactive learning environment, the use of various methods to evaluate student achievement and program quality, that the Department leverages this information to identify areas for improvement and ensure that the programs address the evolving needs of the CAF and the students it serves; and that the Department is doing a great job in maintaining the quality of the program in spite of limited resources. The ERC also identified several primary areas of concern such as; the core curriculum limits elective availability and CPA program requirements narrow student choices, the core curriculum restricts flexibility due to a set of required courses, the committee also noted limited availability of courses for francophone students, the program experiences administrative and resource challenges, the program lacks specific metrics to measure how well the program meets student achievement and program effectiveness after graduation, and a closer integration of the MBA and BA programs could yield several advantages.
The Program Chair, after consultation with faculty and staff in the programs, submitted a response to the ERC Report in May 2025. The Dean of Social Sciences and Humanities prepared this Final Assessment Report on 5 June 2025. The Dean concluded that the ERC Report provided positive feedback on the outcomes of the BAdmin degree and confirmed that it is a successful program that blends a foundation in liberal arts with specialized business knowledge. However, the ERC did identify areas that had room for improvement, and RMC is, or has already taken, taking steps to address the issues raised. RMC will continue to work toward program enhancement and improve student success in the BAdmin program.