The potential for program evaluation in a ""developing"" country

Abstract

Differences in conditions in the US and one developing country, the Bahamas, suggest that evaluation of higher education programmes are more welcome in the latter. US evaluation programmes are few in number and have spread only recently, in response to declining resources and increasing demands for accountability. In developing countries, however, there is a critical need for programme evaluation, because of the large number of problems experienced by them, the consequent need for many higher education programmes, the lack of models for comparison, the sharp limits on resources and funding, and the need to deal with political pressures for particular programmes. An example of a successful evaluation occurred in the Bahamas, where the College of the Bahamas assessed the need for, and implementation and outcome of, a new programme to prepare secondary school dropouts for employment or higher education. The evaluation process included data collection and analysis as well as faculty training in evaluation methods. As expected, college and government officials were very receptive to the programme evaluation process