Enhancing Institutional Competitiveness: The CERTi Approach to Assessing Faculty Research Development Efforts in Higher Education

Faculty Research Development (FRD) in higher education institutions (HEI) is often implemented haphazardly and rarely evaluated. In this paper, we introduce a robust assessment framework (CERTi) that utilizes an overarching (Macro-level) adult-learner faculty-centric theoretical framework which incorporates using qualitative, quantitative, and economic evaluations (Micro-Level) to assess FRD efforts at HEI conjointly. The framework's cyclical approach begins by assessing FRD program effectiveness, followed by an in-depth examination of implementation practices to assess FRD program efficacy, then measures program return-on-investment (ROI), ultimately repeating the process for continuous improvement.