| Abstract | The purpose of the research project was to investigate which faculty policies and procedures of a higher education institution based in Cyprus needed improving/revising, which ones needed to be made redundant, and for which faculty issues the institution lacked policies and procedures. The aim of the research was to formulate model faculty policies and procedures that would achieve the institution's strategic objectives. This
was done by a thorough review of the relevant literature, by interviewing the institution's staff (mainly faculty) members and by conducting focus groups in which faculty members of the institution participated. The research was conducted by employing an action research approach.
The initial findings confirmed that a number of the institution's original policies and procedures needed in-depth revisions (e.g. were out of date and needed to be written more clearly and concisely) and suggested the kind of revisions that needed to be made.
In addition, they pointed out that the institution lacked policies and procedures on many faculty issues and identified these issues. Finally, they stressed the need to have online policies and procedures. The analysis of the data and findings of the literature review, interviews and focus groups led to the development of model faculty policies and procedures on a number of issues. These policies and procedures are the outcome of this
research project.
Following the development of the policies and procedures, their content and structure was found to be satisfactory and acceptable. In addition, it was found that they created a framework based on which, staff members of the institution could take informed actions and decisions. They fostered stability, continuity, uniformity, consistency, simplicity and accountability. They were better organised, clear and more user-friendly.
The research project concluded that the policies and procedures developed achieved the institution's strategic objectives and informed the institution's faculty members on the issues for which the policies and procedures were developed. The model policies and procedures helped the institution to operate more efficiently and productively. In addition, they had a positive impact on faculty members' work-related behaviour
(greater motivation, lower employee turnover, greater employee commitment, more research accomplishments. greater accountability and development). Additionally, the online policies and procedures proved extremely beneficial due to their timely updating, their ease of access, reduction of printing costs and their ability to respond to the institutions changing needs immediately. The policies and procedures developed led to
their increased usage since they could be more easily understood and be accessed easily online. Moreover, they led to the professional development of the staff members and the researcher.
Finally, this research report emphasises the importance of developing policies and procedures and provides a number of recommendations to the institution, higher education institutions, other organisations and the Cyprus Council for Educational Evaluation-Accreditation for utilising this report and for further research and
development in this area. |
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