The college's assessment strategy depends on a set of the integrated curricula, where we use several methods to assess the student according to their level in the program of the bachelor's degree or PhD. All the courses of the college include examinations to ensure the student's involvement in such courses, before the elapse of the semester.

The college has worked on the development of the planning process of programs to avail the opportunity of assessment of the student of their previous study, in accordance with the outputs of the study process, where the result of learning is subjected to assessment, at least twice, using two different assessment methods. The college has developed an assessment method that can be applied to most examinations our students sit. This plays an important role in better preparing the students for the academic achievement examinations, where the examination and the assessment methods are more complicated and/or are new to the students.

Moreover, the college has recently incorporated the OSCE examination (Objective Structured Clinical Examination) within the fourth and fifth years of the bachelor's degree program and the PhD program. OSCE is a relatively new examination method carried out by the college's students that offers the chance for students to put into practice what they have studied through different methods. The student comes out of this examination with a valuable opportunity to demonstrate their ability to prepare a number of the different compounds that they had learnt previously in a number of the courses during the same semester.

The college seeks to ensure compliance of the papers of the final examination with all the quality standards. Thus, every final examination paper undergoes a review process by two independent reviewers. This is in addition to the random selection, by a different group of the academic staff (in both the male and female sections) in order to maintain the quality and consistency of our marking processes.

Finally, the college supports its assessment strategy through prompt constructive feedback. Moreover, the college aims to end the process of marking assignments and providing student feedback within two weeks, where the college follows the academic achievement examinations by other assessment examinations. This is until the time of the quick feedback to ensure that the students have acted upon them and their results have improved in the academic achievement examinations.

Assessment Unit

The Assessment Unit at the College of Pharmacy is committed to preparing the examinations according to the highest quality standards and based on the known principles, as well as the regulations of Umm Al-Qura University and the national and international accreditation and quality assurance bodies.

Objectives:

1. Using the assessment as a tool not just to give marks to the student, but as a main part of the instructions necessary to support and enhance learning.
2. Ensuring the implementation of the policies and procedures of the college's assessment unit.
3. Achieving the assessment goals by making sure that the student is examined according to the learnt course and its objectives. This is in addition to ensuring that the examinations are in line with the curriculum plan.
4. Orienting the assessment to be evidence of the level of learning which the student has reached and the intention of learning that course.
5. Analyzing the psychometric aspects followed in the examinations.
6. Verifying the fair correction and accuracy of the exam through internal reviewing (the same exam reviewer).
7. Analyzing the exam's results, then providing feedback and comments to the student after the external reviewing (external reviewer) in order to achieve the standards set by the national and international accreditation and quality assurance bodies.
8. Analyzing the examination's results, then providing the necessary feedback to the student regarding the carried out examination.
9. Maintaining a relationship, in the examination, between the different departments, courses, and academic levels in the college.
10. Ensuring the complete confidentiality of the Assessment Unit.
11. Establishing a clear and transparent policy in dealing with cases of limited failure among students, especially those who are about to graduate.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):

1. All the exams undergo revision by sub-committees for quality assurance. The sub-committees are formed from the academic departments inside and outside the college.
2. Full adherence (100%) by the academic staff to the assessment guidelines set by the assessment committee.
3. Evaluation of all the courses' results.
4. Giving feedback and comments necessary to the academic staff and heads of departments in due course.
5. Improvement of the assessment quality is achieved only through the accurate monitoring of results.

Future Plan:

• Assessment of the teaching procedures:
• Lecture contents: the amount of information presented in each lecture should be consistent with the general regulations of the college.
• Lecture PowerPoint slides: the lecture PowerPoint slides should be in conformity with the academic office's policy, in terms of the number of slides in each lecture, the information written in each slide, the font used, and the clear scientific information presented.
• The college starts assessment of the exams for all courses at the beginning of the semester, in accordance with a fixed schedule including the exact dates for all stages of reviewing the exams. The exams are then handed over to the reviewer. Finally, the feedback and comments of the responsible person are delivered to the unit, along with the final corrections.
• The aim of the academic staff development workshops is to raise awareness among staff about the likelihood of using the written exams as a good tool to measure the student’s progress during the study of the course.
• Establishment of an examinations bank to include all the exams and the model answers to be provided for students to read from time to time.
• Assessment of the scientific knowledge and output gained during the previous study, at the beginning of each course.
• Assessment of the implementation stages of the active learning strategy that were recently established in the college by the Courses Design Unit.
• Conducting an evaluation of the department’s performance in all the indicators that are subjected to evaluation.

Committee Members: