DEVELOPING FACULTY EVALUATION CRITERIA BASED ON THE PERCEPTIONS OFFACULTY AND ACADEMIC ADMINISTRATORS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HAFR AL-BATIN, SAUDI ARABIA

Abstract

Understanding and managing faculty members' and academic administrators' perceptions are vital in designing and implementing performance-evaluation systems. Therefore, the purpose of this descriptive study was to investigate the perceptions of faculty members and academic administrators to determine what criteria should be used in evaluating faculty teaching performance. To elicit that information, 155 faculty members and 18 academic administrators at the University of Hafr Al-Batin in Saudi Arabia were asked to complete an online survey designed to explore their perceptions about the current and desired future evaluating criteria. The study revealed a considerable gap between current and desired criteria, with respondents rating the future criteria much higher than the current criteria according to their importance in the evaluation performance system. The study also revealed that gender, level of education, and nationality play a significant role in the perceptions of faculty members and academic administrators related to the criteria that should be used in the future to evaluate teaching at different levels of performance. Based on the findings, the researcher recommended that Saudi universities should use the improved criteria according to performance levels as specified in this study to evaluate faculty teaching performance. Keywords: perceptions, teaching performance, performance evaluation system, criteria, faculty members, academics administrators, assessment.