Microsoft Word 2007 ichrie conference Proceedings Final-Final 06-06-07. doc

Evaluation of the Importance of Characteristics Indicating Program Quality 
Research question one asked what characteristics serve as program quality indicators. Mean analysis of the 
participants’ ratings revealed the five most important indicators of quality to be sanitation of kitchen laboratories 
(4.83), industry experience of faculty (4.65), subject experience of faculty (4.65), required internship (4.37), and 
placement rates (4.34). The five least important indicators of quality were low number of students per instructor – 
lecture classes (3.18), gender diversity of faculty (3.06), ethnic diversity of students (2.85), gender diversity of 
students (2.77), and type of ownership of college (2.72).
The characteristics were divided into eight categories. 
Table 1 shows the two most important quality indicators in each category.