Integration of Learning for Academic Achievement, Personal Growth, and Professional Preparation
Executive Summary
Barry University’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) addresses integrative learning—students’ ability to connect, synthesize, apply, and reflect meaningfully on knowledge and skills acquired from various contexts and experiences as demonstrated through products, performances, and presentations.
Titled “Integration of Learning for Academic Achievement, Personal Growth, and Professional Preparation,” the QEP is designed to advance the institutional commitment to providing a transformative educational experience for all students. Furthermore, the QEP is contextualized within the University’s current Strategic Plan, which articulates the vision of “national recognition [advanced] by offering students access, opportunity, and broad-based support in their pursuit of academic achievement and personal growth leading to professional success.”
Focus: Focused on enhancing student learning, the QEP situates integrative learning within culminating experiences for upper-level undergraduates. Culminating experiences are senior-year, capstone-type experiences that allow students to demonstrate proficiency within their major or concentration while meeting the overall goals of a liberal arts education. Appraised as “high-impact practices,” such experiences bring closure to the undergraduate journey and support transition to employment or graduate school. Culminating experiences at Barry span the spectrum, from capstone courses and internships to nursing clinicals and field placements.