In accordance with the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) Institutional Quality Assurance Process (IQAP), this report is a summary of the Final Assessment Report (FAR) which provides a synthesis of the external evaluation and internal response and assessments of the Bachelor of Arts Programs offered by the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities in Political Science. The Program Self-Study Report, which contained the degree level expectations for this program, 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 curriculum vitae (CVs) of faculty members, were completed in August 2022. For the External Review Committee (ERC), two arm’s-length external reviewers, Dr. Marc Doucet (Professor, Department of Political Science, Saint Mary’s University), and Dr. Gilbert Gagné (Professor, Department of Politics and International Studies, Bishop’s University) were selected from a list of possible reviewers and approved by the Dean of Social Science and Humanities. An internal reviewer, Dr. Greg Phillips (Associate Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Dean of Engineering, Royal Military College) was also selected for participation on the ERC. They reviewed the self-study documentation and conducted an on-site visit to RMC from 16 to 17 January 2023. The reviewers submitted their report on 22 February 2023.
In their report, the ERC expresses the opinion that this program conforms to normal expectations for an undergraduate degree, noting, of course, the unusual and unique role and mission of the Royal Military College of Canada in training officers for a career in the Canadian Armed Forces. The ERC identified a number of strengths of the programs under review including that they are well-regarded judging by the formal responses to surveys, the resolve of Faculty to the success of students within the programs, and that the Department of Political Science and Economics has done its best to respond satisfactorily to the 2015 External Review Committee’s major concern regarding the quality of the Faculty. The ERC also identified a number of areas of concern for the Political Science program including that the program does not reflect the state of the discipline as it pertains to gender and politics, the program needs to indigenize its curriculum, the normal teaching load in the Political Science department is higher than other departments at RMC and than other universities in Canada, the disjuncture between military and civilian faculty with respect to benefits and responsibilities constitutes a barrier to an active research agenda, there is a lack of incentives for research, post-graduate supervisions and administrative tasks, and the lack of library and research resources.
The Program Chair, after consultation with faculty and staff in the programs, submitted a response to the ERC Report on 2 June 2023. The Dean of Social Science and Humanities prepared this Final Assessment Report on July 17, 2023. The ERC Report provided positive feedback on the outcomes of the undergraduate programs in Political Science and confirmed that RMC generally succeeds in accomplishing its mission and providing its students with a sound liberal arts education, as provided in other small-size universities in Canada and elsewhere. However, the ERC did identify areas that had room for improvement, and RMC is, or has already taken steps to address the issues raised. RMC will continue to work toward program enhancement and improve student success in the Political Science program.