An Ecological Approach to SWOT Analysis: Examining the Key Factors Influencing the Quality of an Intensive English Program

doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-7478596/v1

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An Ecological Approach to SWOT Analysis: Examining the Key Factors Influencing the Quality of an Intensive English Program

https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7478596/v1

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Quality assurance in education essentially focuses on all relevant aspects of school life since various procedures of objectively monitoring, evaluating, and reporting are conducted by all stakeholders in an educational institution. These procedures are highly dynamic and often adopted to provide the much-needed guidance for continuous improvement of educational quality. Accepting this notion of quality assurance, this study investigated the influential factors in the quality of an Intensive English Program (Henceforth, IEP) according to perceptions of all stakeholders by analysing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats through international accreditation criteria applied to SWOT framework. This study was conducted using concurrent mixed research design in which the quantitative data was collected from 1143 students through a questionnaire devised by the researchers in line with accreditation criteria. The qualitative data was collected simultaneously from 14 instructors, program administrators, coordinators and department heads through a semi-structured interview protocol. The findings revealed multiple perspectives about factors affecting different constituents of Intensive English Program quality as perceived by different stakeholders according to international quality criteria. The strengths mostly involve clearly defined academic calendar, high level English proficiency of L2 instructors, accessible facilities, equipment and supplies on campus, student placement into correct levels, while the some of the weaknesses include solutions for students' administrative problems, accessibility of social and recreational activities, condition and quantity of the facilities. The opportunities entail international partnership projects, job market connections through alumni while the threats contain accommodation and transportation issues in addition to natural disasters and financial issues in the national socioeconomic status quo. The study is unique in applying accreditation criteria to SWOT and using this framework in an IEP to collect data from stakeholders through a mixed-methods research design.

Quality assurance in education

Accreditation

SWOT analysis

Intensive English Program quality

The widespread use of English as well as increased access to higher education across the world have been critical determinants in the internationalisation motives of higher education institutions in parallel with globalisation. This has led universities to put more emphasis on the content and delivery of their English programs as part of their institutional internationalisation initiatives. To attract and retain quality national and international students and staff and to succeed in this competitive era of higher education (Dattey et al., 2017), universities started to adopt strategies to prove and improve their English program quality as an essential pillar of internationalisation. In this context, accreditation serves as the most widely acknowledged mechanism for quality assurance in higher education institutions, where they need to meet certain number of criteria to prove their quality and to continuously improve their policies and practices through stakeholder feedback. In line with the increasing focus on internationalisation and quality English program provision as fundamental constituents, Intensive English Program (IEP) accreditation has become widespread across the world and many countries started to necessitate IEPs to become accredited to enforce quality assurance in language education to ensure institutional accountability. For example, in the US, IEP accreditation became mandatory in line with the US regulation, the English Language Program Accreditation Act, to receive federal funding through student F-1 visas (Accreditation of English Language Training Programs Act, 2010). IEPs are expected to meet standards related to curriculum, assessment, student recruitment, faculty, facilities, program length and administrative capacity, program review and many other constituents of quality English education as part of many well-known international accreditation schemes.

Leiber et al. (2018) characterize accreditation as a complex process and contend that this complexity can be diminished by means of a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis. SWOT involves one of the most widely known structures of scrutiny in exploring the status quo of a private or public company, particular educational institution as well as an English program. This analysis includes identification of factors impacting quality that can be relevant in the current and immediate environment of an institution or a program. When such an analysis is used within the context of English Language Programs, it can provide an objective and critical perspective of the programme’s usefulness and effectiveness as a whole (Pardo & Díaz, 2020). The findings obtained from the SWOT analysis can also offer practical pathways to follow during the strategic planning of institutions for their improvement in the foreseeable future (Behdioğlu et al., 2016).

SWOT is not solely an academic theory; rather it was developed as a practical analysis framework. However, it is related with academic theories mainly concerning strategic management and organization. The studies conducted by Humphrey in 1960s at Stanford Research Institute led to the origins of SWOT with his focus on the involvement of management in strategic planning activities (Humphrey, 1974). In this context, Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson (2015) feature SWOT as a crucial step in the strategic management processes. According to their model, internal environment and external environment (strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats, respectively) surrounding an organization are analysed to determine the strategic objectives and plans as the principal constituent of the strategic analysis phase. Also, according to Weiss’ Theory of Change (1995), effective program evaluations can result in program improvement. This program improvement will function as a factor in decision making (Msila & Setlhako, 2013) as well as having an effect on policy and practice (Weiss et al., 2005). To this end, SWOT constitutes one of the cornerstones of academic quality schemes and it is included as an integral part of quality assurance procedures. For example, in the European Foundation for Quality Management Model, SWOT is explicitly suggested to be implemented to understand the context of the organization as well as conducting internal and external analyses in the fields of leadership and strategy (EFQM, 2020). Additionally, ISO 21001, the management systems for educational organizations, encourages and supports the implementation of SWOT with the same purpose (ISO, 2018). Turkish Higher Education Quality Council (THEQC) suggests SWOT in the strategic planning and quality assurance systems handbooks (YÖKAK, 2019). Therefore, within the scope of academic quality assurance processes, SWOT can be regarded as a significant tool in determining the areas for improvement and identifying the strategic and quality objectives. It is a supportive means to improve quality in a systematic manner.

Informing the administrators, policy makers and other stakeholders in an institution about internal and external determinants influencing their quality (Özan et al., 2015) is definitely an invaluable opportunity for educational planning and institutional well-being. This is characterised by Dohms (2016) as the end result of institutional effectiveness thanks to a harmonious, effective and affective coexistence, marked by the collaboration of all its stakeholders in action. For educational institutions, the promotion of a healthy environment in teaching and learning processes is also added to this definition of institutional well-being. If the administrators and policy makers take action to work on the weaknesses and eliminate the possible threats emphasized in the SWOT analysis, this healthy environment of institutional well-being can be promoted to generate positive effects throughout the chain of relations within the educational institution. Therefore, SWOT analysis of English Language Programs may function as a medium in complying with accreditation criteria as well as providing guidance for the improvement of existing practices in curriculum, assessment, faculty, student services and other essential constituents of a quality IEP.

This study seeks to address the gap in the literature by examining the internal and external factors influencing the quality of IEPs to form the basis for continuous improvement of program quality. The existing literature offers a limited number of studies conducted in the form of SWOT analysis of a particular English course implementation (Ludwiqa et al., 2022), the compulsory English courses in vocational technical colleges (Tan Şişman & Bozok, 2022), and Electronic Teaching English as a Foreign Language (e-TEFL) curriculum (Hassaskhah, 2016). The primary objective of this research is to explore whether SWOT can be used as an effective tool in supporting quality improvement processes in IEPs according to perceptions of students, instructors, program administrators, coordinators and department heads by applying SWOT through an international accreditation framework. The study is unique in applying accreditation criteria to SWOT and implementing the framework in an IEP through a mixed-methods research design to collect the perceptions of the stakeholders involved. This topic is specifically timely in line with the recent emphasis of Turkish Council of Higher Education to “increase the competitiveness of the Turkish higher education system on a global scale, establish a quality-oriented development process” as announced through the Action Plan from the Council of Higher Education to Carry Universities to the 2030 Vision (YÖK, 2025). In doing so, the study contributes to the wider debate on the quality improvement processes of IEPs in Türkiye as well as offering a framework for implementation on a national and international level.

3.1 The research context

In Türkiye, English reigns as the predominant second language not only as the medium of instruction at many prestigious universities like the one where the present study was conducted but also as the language of international business and mobility. Evaluation and Accreditation of Quality Language Services (EAQUALS), Commission on English Language Program Accreditation (CEA) and Pearson Assured are the prevailing international accrediting bodies in the quality assurance of IEPs in Türkiye (Doğan, 2022). The institution of this study offers an IEP for thousands of learners who are among the most promising young adult students in the entire country according to the results of the nationwide university entrance exams. Since the medium of instruction is English in the institution, all the students are required to pass the institutional English proficiency exam to be able to start studying in their departments. The IEP in question was granted 5-year initial accreditation and then was reaccredited for 10 years by a non-profit specialised accrediting agency, maintaining compliance with international quality standards.

3.2 Participants

A total of 1143 students voluntarily completed the questionnaire (Table 1). Convenience and random sampling were adopted as the widely known non-probability sampling technique while selecting participants from the target population based on ease of access as well as equal opportunity to take part in research (Golzar et al., 2022).

Table 1
Student participants’ profile
	Average age	Average commute time	No previous prep program experience	Financial support
IEP in Türkiye Valid N (listwise) 1143	18.72	90 minutes	1088	581

A total of 14 English instructors from the same institution were voluntarily interviewed in this study according to their teaching experience, weekly teaching hours and administrative duties (Table 2). These instructors were selected using criterion sampling which is a technique widely used in qualitative research so as to identify and select information-rich cases in relation to the phenomenon of interest (Palinkas et al., 2015).

Table 2
Instructor participants’ profile
	Teaching experience in years	Weekly teaching hours	Administrative duties
Instructor 1 Instructor 2 Instructor 3 Instructor 4 Instructor 5 Instructor 6 Instructor 7 Instructor 8 Instructor 9 Instructor 10 Instructor 11 Instructor 12 Instructor 13 Instructor 14	1–10 1–10 11–20 11–20 21–30 31–40 1–10 1–10 1–10 1–10 1–10 1–10 11–20 21–30	10–20 10–20 10–20 10–20 10–20 10–20 4 4 10–20 10–20 10–20 10–20 10–20 10–20	None None None Education Technologies None None Assistant director Assistant director Student Motivation Testing Level Coordination Professional Development Program Coordination Curriculum Development

3.3 Data collection tools and data analyses

The research was conducted employing a concurrent mixed method (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011) in which qualitative and quantitative methods are used simultaneously. Concurrent mixed research design necessitates the collection and analysis of quantitative data at the same time as the collection and analysis of qualitative data. Since the high number of students was more conducive to quantitative data collection while it was essential to receive instructors’ views through qualitative data collection, these two methods were utilised at the same time. A written approval of the Institutional Review Board of the university where the study was conducted was obtained prior to data collection. The data collection tools, their development process and analyses are explained below.

3.3.1 SWOT questionnaire

The questionnaire items were essentially developed in line with the accreditation standards by the researchers of the study. Extensive feedback was collected from in-house instructors and two outside experts, one from the field of educational sciences and the other with expertise in the field of management. The questionnaire items were revised upon feedback.

In addition, a pilot study was conducted using the initial version of the questionnaire with 35 students who did not participate in the actual study. The wording of some items was revised to increase the comprehensibility of the questionnaire which was prepared in Turkish, the mother tongue of the students at the university. The first part of the questionnaire included demographic questions while the second part comprised questions regarding the curriculum, faculty, facilities, equipment and supplies, administrative and fiscal capacity, student services, length and structure of the program, student achievement and program development, planning, and review.

3.3.2 Semi-structured interviews

Open ended interview questions centralised on the same areas of focus mentioned above within the scope of accreditation. The instructors had the opportunity to add personal comments while the interviewer asked follow up questions whenever necessary. A pilot interview was also conducted with an instructor who highlighted that the questions were well formulated and she felt at ease to add her own examples and viewpoints. The interviews were conducted in the language of choice, either English or Turkish, by the instructors. All the interviews were first transcribed and then translated into English if necessary. Thematic analysis was conducted to determine the overarching themes and codes and during this process themes provided a framework for the organization and reporting the researchers’ analytic observations in order to identify, and interpret the key features of the qualitative data, guided by the research questions (Clarke & Braun, 2017).

The frequency counts and percentages of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats were identified by at least 50% of all 1143 students who voluntarily completed the questionnaire (Table 3). The percentages were arranged in a descending format so that the strongest items appear first in each subsection. When the same item appeared as both a weakness and a strength, the highest percentage was included in the results.

The strengths of the IEP include clearly defined academic calendar (67.5%), instructors’ high level of English proficiency (66.4%), facilities, equipment and supplies accessible to students (64.3%), student placement into correct levels (56.6%), instructors’ high level of professional experience (53.4%), and instructors’ high level of professional expertise (50%).

Table 3
Student SWOT analysis results
	Items	Percent	Frequency
Strengths	Clearly defined academic calendar	67.5	772
	Instructors' high level of English proficiency	66.4	759
	Facilities, equipment and supplies accessible to students	64.3	735
	Student placement into correct levels	56.6	647
	Instructors' high level of professional experience	53.4	610
	Instructors' high level of professional expertise	50	569
Weaknesses	Solutions for students' administrative difficulties	59.2	677
	Accessibility of social and recreational activities	52.1	595
	Condition of the facilities, equipment and supplies	52	594
	Quantity of the facilities, equipment and supplies	51.5	589
	Regular assessment of student learning outcomes	50.9	582
Opportunities	International partnership projects	70.6	807
	Reputation of the university	66.3	758
	Job market connections through alumni	59.7	682
	Grants and scholarships	58.4	668
	Improvement in university rankings	57.7	660
	Advancements in AI technology	51.6	590
	Accreditation of the program	50.9	582
Threats	Accommodation issues	72	823
	Transportation issues	65.7	751
	Natural disasters	64.9	742
	Financial issues	63.6	721
	Number of students admitted to the university	50	567

The weaknesses of the IEP involve solutions for students’ administrative difficulties (59.2%), accessibility of social and recreational activities (52.1%), condition of the facilities, equipment and supplies (52%), quantity of the facilities, equipment and supplies (51.5%), and regular assessment of student learning outcomes (50.9%).

The opportunities contain international partnership projects (70.6%), reputation of the university (66.3%), job market connections through alumni (59.7%), grants and scholarships (58.4%), improvements in university rankings (57.7%), advancements in AI technology (51.6%), and accreditation of the program (50.9%).

Finally, the threats include accommodation issues (72%), transportation issues (65.7%), natural disasters (64.9%), financial issues (63.6%), and the number of students admitted to the university (50%).

The overarching themes and codes related to the strengths and weaknesses (Table 4), and opportunities and threats (Table 5) that emerged from the qualitative analysis of the transcriptions of 14 semi-structured instructor interviews show the codes agreed by at least 4 instructors in the institution, accompanied by their frequency counts.

Table 4
Instructor SWOT analysis results-Strengths and Weaknesses
Overarching Themes	Strengths	F	Weaknesses	F
1. Curriculum	1a. Accessible curriculum in written format	11	1a. The need to improve curricular content	10
	1b. Quality and up to date teaching materials	9
	1c. Curriculum responding to student needs	7
2. Faculty	2a. Highly qualified and experienced teaching staff	12	2a. The need for stronger sense of collegiality	5
	2b. Openness to continuous professional development	9	2b. The need for stronger instructor motivation	4
	2c. Collegiality and professional collaboration	7
3. Facilities, equipment and supplies	3a. Availability, accessibility and adequacy of the school facilities, equipment and supplies	12	3a. The need for personalised equipment support	7
			3b. The need for improved technical conditions	6
			3c. Logistic difficulties regarding facilities, equipment and supplies	5
4. Administrative and discal capacity	4a. Open and efficient channels of information exchange	10
4. Administrative and discal capacity	4b. Encouragement and support for professional development	8
5. Student services	5a. Highly active student service units	10	5a. The need for better advertising of student services departments, especially psychological counselling	5
	5b. Professional psychological counselling	7
	5c. Comprehensive and beneficial orientation program	6
	5d. Adequate academic advising	5
6. Length and structure of the program	6a. Adequate length of the program	9	6a. The need for additional program measures at the lowest proficiency level	4
7. Student achievement	7a. Student placement into correct levels	10
	7b. Effective feedback on students’ progress	5
	7c. Clear assessment procedures	4
8. Program development, planning and review	8a. Effective evaluation of collected feedback	6
	8b. Frequency and adequacy of feedback collection	5
	8c. Continuous and dynamic program development	5

Table 5
Instructor SWOT analysis results-Opportunities and threats
Opportunities	F	Threats	F
1. Better educational integration of newest technologies	11	1. National economic status quo 2. Number of students admitted to the university	11 9
2. International and national partnership projects	7	3. Accommodation issues	8
3. Improved job market connections through alumni	4	4. Natural disasters 5. Transportation issues	7 6

The overarching themes for the strengths and weaknesses of the IEP comprise curriculum (1), faculty (2), facilities, equipment and supplies (3), administrative and fiscal capacity (4), student services (5), length and structure of the program (6), student achievement (7) and program development, planning, and review (8) (Table 4). The overarching themes for the opportunities include better integration of newest technologies (1), international and national partnership projects (2) and improved market connections through alumni (3) while the threats involve national economic status quo (1), high number of students admitted to the university (2), accommodation issues (3), natural disasters (4) and transportation issues (5) (Table 5).

As for the strengths regarding the curriculum (1), 11 instructors highlighted the existence of accessible curriculum in written format, 9 instructors pointed out quality and up to date teaching materials, and 7 instructors contended that the curriculum responds to student needs in the IEP.

Our current curriculum responds well to our students' needs. Several adjustments are always made to our program based on our students' levels. These can be additions, omissions, or any other changes. [Instructor 6].

As for the faculty, 12 instructors indicated that the IEP has highly qualified and experienced teaching staff whose openness to continuous professional development was also highlighted by 9 instructors.

To improve instructor performance systematically, we have regular performance evaluations which include instructor self-reflection and student surveys. Instructor exchange performance evaluation was also nice. Such activities help keep instructors active all the time. [Instructor 14].

Regarding facilities, equipment and supplies, 12 instructors mentioned that school facilities, equipment and supplies are available, accessible and adequate in number.

Availability and accessibility of the school facilities, equipment and supplies are good. We don't have any difficulties in that. There is a projector in each class. Some of the projectors are a bit old, but they work and they are available any time we need. The dining hall works effectively. [Instructor 6].

Regarding administrative and fiscal capacity, 10 instructors highlighted open and efficient channels of information exchange, while 8 of them mentioned administrative support for professional development.

Executive mechanisms are quite accessible in our school. Office heads and assistant directors are always helpful. [Instructor 3].

The fifth overarching theme, student services involve highly active student service units mentioned by 10 instructors while 7 of them maintained that psychological counselling was professional and effective on campus.

The student service departments work really well. We have an Independent Learning Centre for private tutoring, the Student Motivation Unit organizes different activities for our students. [Instructor 2].

The adequate length of the program was also listed as a strength by 9 instructors.

I find the academic terms quite sufficient in length. For each program, I also find the week lots to be balanced, they are not too heavy, they are not too light in terms of curricular content. [Instructor 4].

As for student achievement, 10 instructors believed that students are mostly placed into correct levels while effective feedback on student progress was indicated as a strength by 5 instructors.

I think that accreditation has entered our lives, and these new practices such as giving one-to-one feedback to the student, and the individual conversation of the instructor directly with the student about the student's success, are very strong aspects for the students to achieve their learning goals. [Instructor 10].

Program development, planning and review theme involved effective evaluation of collected feedback as highlighted by 6 instructors, and frequency and adequacy of feedback collection as mentioned by 5 instructors. Continuous and dynamic program development was also listed as a strength by 5 instructors.

We have different ways of getting feedback at the moment. I feel like, if an instructor wants to give feedback, he can do that easily. I know from the meetings that I've taken place, that information is really taken seriously. Of course, you can't take everyone's suggestion because a lot of the time, the suggestions conflict with each other, but the suggestions we get are all taken very seriously, and at least weighed for their merits. [Instructor 5].

As for the weakness of the curriculum, 10 instructors pointed out the need to improve curricular content. The need to focus on more communicative activities, to decrease curricular load, to eliminate minor grammar aspects from the curriculum were mentioned.

Regarding our curriculum, maybe at least at lower levels, we should focus more on communicative activities. I think the curriculum, that is, the materials prepared by the curriculum office, should focus more on this. [Instructor 8].

The weaknesses regarding the faculty in the IEP included the need for a stronger sense of collegiality as indicated by 5 instructors while 4 instructors mentioned the need for stronger instructor motivation.

Instructor motivation needs to be increased through not only academic professional development activities but also cultural and social organizations during each academic year. Perhaps, we need an Instructor Motivation Unit in addition to SMU. There are some instructors who don't know each other well. Collegial cooperation and motivation can be increased in such activities. [Instructor 9].

7 instructors pointed out the need for personalized equipment support while 6 instructors mentioned the need for improved technical conditions. Lastly, 5 instructors highlighted the logistic difficulties in terms of accessibility of facilities.

Instructor lounges and offices should be in a better condition and each instructor should have a personally allocated working space and office. [Instructor 12].

The only weakness regarding the student services was the need for better advertising of student services departments, especially psychological counselling.

The student services need to be advertised better. [Instructor 11].

The need for additional program measures at the lowest proficiency level was pointed out by 4 instructors as a weakness of the length and structure of the program. Increasing the length of the IEP, adding remedial courses, introducing better writing rubrics are among these measures.

As for the structure of the program, remedial courses can be added to the schedule of lower proficiency levels while elective courses can be included to increase the target language exposure of students at higher proficiency levels. [Instructor 3].

No weaknesses have been mentioned regarding administrative and fiscal capacity, student achievement and program development, planning, and review (Table 4).

The opportunities include better integration of newest technologies as mentioned by 11 instructors, international and national partnership projects as highlighted by 7 instructors, and improved market connections through alumni as discussed by 4 instructors (Table 5).

We can benefit more from artificial intelligence and actually scaffold the learning objectives using AI. [Instructor 13].

The threats comprise national economic status quo as highlighted by 11 instructors, the number of students admitted to the university as emphasized by 9 instructors, accommodation issues as mentioned by 8 instructors, natural disasters as pointed out by 7 instructors and transportation issues as accentuated by 6 instructors (Table 5).

Legislation and legal procedure changes usually happen after really big events such as the pandemic or the national earthquake. Resorting to online education after these events is an example. Unfortunately, we cannot do anything when such things happen. [Instructor 8].

Eaton (2020) refers to academic calendar and program curriculum as two of the most significant dimensions in academic experience as part of the accreditation process. In accordance with this, availability and accessibility of a clearly defined academic calendar and institutional curriculum obviously stand as fundamental strengths of the IEP. In addition, Dattey et al. (2017) attract attention to curriculum in the scope of accreditation as one of the key indicators of teaching quality and learning outcomes. Therefore, curriculum standards for English Language Programs and Institutions put special emphasis on the written and appropriate format of the curriculum which involves course goals, course objectives, student learning outcomes, methodologies and materials (Kotarska, 2019). Additionally, the quality standards require that the curriculum meets the assessed student needs, which is stated as another strength of the program. The significance of the alignment of curriculum objectives with student needs is also emphasized in Wotring et al. (2021) since this ensures the coherence and consistency between the intended outcomes, assessment tasks and content selection and organization. This selection should feature quality and up to date teaching materials as essential components of the institutional curriculum (Al-Bargi, 2019), which revealed as a strength in the current study.

It is a fact that instructors’ professional and pedagogical expertise is a significant factor in student learning, as emphasized by Ada and Azisah (2016) and ‘pedagogical competence defines as specific competence that distinguishes English teachers from teachers of other subjects’ (Yutsika et al., 2019, p. 145). The results of the student questionnaire also show that the faculty is appreciated as a strength of the IEP. The instructors themselves also believe that the faculty members are highly qualified and experienced, open to continuous professional development, collegial and professionally collaborative. The emphasis on instructors’ qualifications also corroborates fundamental aspects of instructional design models by Morrison et al., (2004), and Smith and Ragan (1999). In this scope, Mirici highlights the significance of continuous professional development activities for English language instructors to improve their teaching techniques (2022), which in turn, contributes to student learning and teaching quality (Giraldo, 2020). Therefore, taking this discussion one step further, Almurayh et al. (2022) assert that accreditation has a significant influence on student learning, which is associated with instructors’ professional and pedagogical expertise.

Accessibility of facilities, equipment and supplies to students is one of the major strengths of the IEP according to both students and instructors. As one of the indicators of program quality, facilities and infrastructure offered by the institution are strongly associated with student performance (Yutsika et al., 2019). This was also confirmed by a previous study conducted with 1046 adolescent students (Wang & Holcombe, 2010) demonstrating that students’ perceptions of school environment influenced their academic achievement directly and indirectly through their school participation, identification with school, and use of self-regulation strategies. Such positive perceptions regarding the school environment are shared by both the students and instructors in the current study, which may suggest similar outcomes in the IEP as well. Also, according to Idris et al. (2025), adequate physical infrastructure has a positive influence on education quality, significantly affecting students’ emotional engagement (Kassab et al., 2024). Despite these common positive attitudes, condition and quantity of the facilities, equipment and supplies are seen as a weakness by the students. This may be attributed to the high number of students, which was highlighted as a threat by a majority of the participants. Due to the number of students studying in the program, possible malfunctions of especially technical equipment can occur due to frequent usage. Measures are taken to overcome this issue; still, more needs to be done to provide facilities, equipment and supplies that are both available and accessible to students in their academic environment, which is both a quality indicator and one of the benefits brought by accredited status (Ryhan, 2013).

Even though there are no weaknesses of the administrative and fiscal capacity indicated by the instructors, solutions for students' administrative difficulties have been referred to as a weakness of the program, which may be attributed to standardized, defined and documented policies and procedures regarding attendance, program achievement, and alike, which may be perceived as restricting opportunities for flexibility by students. From an administrative point of view, this may be regarded as one of the benefits of accreditation, which drives formulisation, documentation and systematisation of many policies and procedures that may be already existing informally (Vlăsceanu et al., 2004). This was advanced by the instructors in their discourse emphasizing open and efficient channels of information exchange as a strength of the administrative capacity. Instructors also contended that there is ample administrative encouragement and support for professional development. The encouragement and support for professional development may also be considered an influence of accreditation process, raising awareness about the significance of such activities in program quality, as also discussed by Khojah and Shousha (2020). Collins (2015) also found that accreditation process had a positive influence on instructors’ professional development, which corroborated with the findings of the current study. These are inseparable aspects of building an efficient whole school approach as accentuated by Haworth et al. (2015) contributing to building a deeply shared pedagogy among the instructors in the institution.

As for the student services, accessibility of social and recreational activities was perceived as a weakness by the students. Availability and successful implication of social and recreational activities were demonstrated to have a palliative effect (Elegbeleye, 2005) and involvement in those extra-curricular activities has a positive influence on students’ academic performance as well as their satisfaction with their university experiences (Nassar et al., 2025). Therefore, this accessibility should be increased so as to mitigate labour induced stress in the school environment. Nevertheless, instructors believe that such student service units as student motivation and independent learning are highly active. Professional psychological counselling and academic advising are also adequately provided in addition to a comprehensive and beneficial orientation program according to the majority of the instructors in the IEP. One noteworthy weakness regarding student services was the need for better advertising of student services departments, especially psychological counselling as highlighted by instructors. Counselling services are one of the requirements of accreditation status as stated in evaluation instruments (Dattey et al., 2019). Agencies specialized in IEP accreditation value the provision of psychological counselling in the scope of student services. The qualifications of individuals offering counselling services as an indicator of provision of quality services to students have been defined as part of accreditation criteria (Reeves, 2019). Although the counselling service is found effective, better advertising of the service will inform the students better contributing to their well-being.

Regarding student achievement, a common strength of the IEP is efficient student placement into correct levels indicated both by the students and the instructors. In this regard, Cvilikaitė-Mačiulskienė and Zutkiene (2024) highlight the importance of accurate placement of students into appropriate levels of language proficiency contributing to their motivation and academic performance. Al-Bargi (2019) reports the student achievement standard to assess whether the language institution’s placement system allows valid and reliable placement of students into levels, which seems to be met according to the findings of this study. In his doctoral dissertation, Banegas (2013) also alleged that an accurate placement system is a must to address the needs of ESL students, making a positive impact educationally and facilitating ESL students’ success in an ever-changing global society, which was the case in the current study.

Two other integral components of ongoing student achievement in the IEP are effective feedback on students’ progress and clear assessment procedures as mentioned by instructors. EAQUALS defines quality assessment as placement procedures, summative and formative assessment, assessment of progress and exit descriptors, and information on examinations, certificates and reports (2016). As a CEA standard (2022), a language institution needs to inform its students of the assessment procedures used to determine placement, progression from level to level, and completion of the program, in addition to their individual results, which are regularly provided through the institutional learning management systems as well as personalized oral and written instructor feedback according to the instructors. However, student questionnaire results indicated regular assessment of student learning outcomes as a weakness, which may stem from the background of students not being accustomed to a combination of formative and summative assessment as necessitated by international quality standards (Dattey et al., 2019; Kotarska, 2019) and the students may be experiencing difficulty with the frequency of assessments, referring to it as a weakness. In this scope, Bulut et al. (2025) suggest improving the quality of feedback to contribute to improved learning outcomes for students.

According to Khojah and Shousha (2020), ‘it is of paramount importance to maintain the quality level reached at the time of accreditation by continuous feedback, review and improvement as accreditation is not a one-shot process; it is a continuous, everlasting effort to maintain the quality reached’ (p. 186). Similarly, the results of the study demonstrated no weaknesses regarding program development, planning and review, which indicates successful implementation of quality improvement cycles. Considering the challenges of program planning and review in English language instruction, especially in designing language and content objectives, identified by previous research (Baecher et al., 2014), designing a continuous and dynamic program development system and ensuring its smooth function is by no means a simple undertaking. Instructors believe that the collected feedback is evaluated effectively and affirm the existence of continuous and dynamic program development in addition to frequent and adequate feedback collection.

There are many opportunities that can be seized for the improvement of educational programs and institutions. In this context, significance of cooperation with educational and industrial partners (Kulik et al., 2020), alumni network for students to facilitate their adaptation to international market context (Chitkara et al., 2020) and the potential of AI in scaling up poor pedagogical ideas in education (Bartoletti, 2021) come to the forefront. The current study has revealed parallel results identifying international and national partnership projects, improved job market connections through alumni, better educational integration of newest technologies, especially AI technology, as the common opportunities for the IEP. On the other hand, the threats to the IEP contain the national economic status quo as it leads to accommodation, transportation and financial issues that are shared by the students and the instructors. The efficiency of higher education institutions is affected by economic challenges as observed in European universities (Lehmann et al., 2018) as well as being an influential factor in the high demand for undergraduate education, academic labour supply and costs and productivity in American universities (Clotfelter et al., 2008). Furthermore, the studies by Di Pietro (2018) and Wang (2024) illustrate the potential of natural disasters to cause significant negative effects on students and institutions. This is also revealed in the form of a threat to the program quality in the current study.

In summary, the findings of the current study indicate that the internal and external factors affecting program quality may have common and varying aspects based on the different and similar perceptions of the students and the instructors in the same program. The students prioritise faculty, program length and accessibility of facilities, equipment and supplies as strengths and their condition and quantity as weaknesses along with solutions for administrative difficulties, social and recreational activities and regular assessment of student learning outcomes. On the other hand, curriculum, faculty and student services are identified as strengths by the instructors while prioritising the need to improve curricular content, stronger sense of collegiality and instructor motivation as well as personal equipment support for further improvement. As for the opportunities and threats, both the students and the instructors share common perceptions on integration of newest technologies, national and international partnership projects and improved job connections through alumni as opportunities that can be seized for improvement and accommodation, transportation and natural disasters as threats to be eliminated for successful functioning of the program as a whole.

Two major limitations might have influenced the findings of the study. The study was conducted in a single university in Türkiye and reflects the attitudes and beliefs of the students and the instructors at this institution. Further research would benefit from application of the devised framework in other IEPs to determine the factors affecting quality as a significant step towards program effectiveness and conducting a meta-analysis that comprises examination of studies from a variety of countries.

In this competitive era of higher education where universities are in pursuit of internationalisation strategies that will distinguish them from others, compliance with and maintenance of accreditation standards in English language education stand as a critical prospect. It is recommended that IEPs conduct regular SWOT analyses to demonstrate the strengths and weaknesses of the program, to examine opportunities for program improvement and identify potential external difficulties that could be influential in preventing the program to reach its objectives. For strategic planning, implementation and evaluation as part of continuous quality improvement, SWOT analysis complemented by international quality criteria may function as a critical tool for IEP administrators and university leadership as a whole.

Human ethics approval and consent to participate

We hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. The research procedures and consent forms were overseen and approved by the Social and Human Sciences Research and Publication Ethics Board at Istanbul Technical University. We also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, we have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Written and oral consents of all the participants were also obtained prior to data collection. The ethical principles of voluntary participation, informed consent, anonymity, confidentiality were duly applied throughout the research process.

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it was created with due diligence in respect to the collection of data/materials, carrying out research, processing/analysis of results to the best of my knowledge;

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An Ecological Approach to SWOT Analysis: Examining the Key Factors Influencing the Quality of an Intensive English Program

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Abstract

1. Introduction

2. Methodology

3.1 The research context

3.2 Participants

3.3 Data collection tools and data analyses

3.3.1 SWOT questionnaire

3.3.2 Semi-structured interviews

3. Results

4. Discussion

5. Conclusions

Declarations

Acknowledgments

Disclosure statement

Funding

References

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