In accordance with the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) Institutional Quality Assurance Process (IQAP), the Program Chair and review group submitted the Program Self-Study report on 16 Sept, 2024. For the programs under review, it 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. The External Review Committee (ERC) was comprised of two arm’s-length external reviewers (Dr. Dane Rowlands, Carleton University, and Dr. Ryan Compton, University of Manitoba) who were selected from a list of possible reviewers and approved by the Deans of Sciences. An internal reviewer was not provided. They reviewed the self-study documentation and conducted a site visit to RMC from 14 - 15 Nov 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 VP Research, the Program Chair, faculty members, alumni, students registered in the program under study, and the Chief Librarian. The reviewers submitted their report on Dec 20, 2024
In their report, the ERC expresses the opinion that RMC’s economics programs have a similar breadth and depth of economics training to other economics programs from other Canadian Universities. The ERC identified a number of strengths of the Economics Programs including there is a very favourable instructor-student ratio in many classes, the faculty members are dedicated instructors committed to their students, the core faculty display high morale and the department functions with a high degree of collegiality, and the program offers several innovative courses that are well-suited to RMC and its students. The ERC also identified several primary areas of concern such as; there is an urgent need to renew the core faculty complement by proceeding with the planned hire, more support and flexibility is required to encourage research by core faculty members and to foster collaborations and engagement with other economists, and there is a need to review the core program for first year students to make sure the structure and content meets the needs of programs that start in the second year.
The program Chair, after consultation with faculty and staff in the program, submitted a response to the Reviewers’ Report in May 2025. The Dean of Social Sciences and Humanities prepared a Final Assessment Report on 5 June 2025. The Dean concluded that ERC Report provided positive feedback on the outcomes of the undergraduate economics programs and confirmed that these programs align well with RMC's mission and academic plans and that an RMC student with an undergraduate degree in economics would be as well-prepared for a graduate program in economics as students in most other institutions. 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 undergraduate economics programs.