Program self-study teams participate in a facilitated Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis to provide information that is helpful in matching the program’s resources and capabilities to the environment in which it operates.

	A SWOT analysis is a subjective assessment of data that is organized by the SWOT format into four dimensions similar to a basic two-heading list of pro's and con's.
	The strength of a SWOT analysis is that it can be used to help faculty
		collaborate on strategy formulation,
		develop a plan that incorporates many different internal and external factors, and
		o maximize the potential of the strengths and opportunities while minimizing the impact of the weaknesses and threats.
	SWOT Analysis is a simple but powerful framework for focusing on program strengths, minimizing threats, and taking the greatest possible advantage of opportunities.
	To develop initiatives (strategies) that take into account the SWOT profile, program faculty can translate the four lists into a matrix (see below) that associates strengths (maintain, build and leverage), opportunities (prioritize and optimize), weaknesses (remedy), and threats (counter) into actions that can be agreed and owned by a team.

	Strengths	Weaknesses
Opportunities	S&O: Pursue opportunities that are a good fit with the program’s strengths	W-O: Overcome weaknesses to pursue opportunities
Threats	S-T:  Identify ways the program can use its strengths to reduce its vulnerability to external threats.	W-T:  Establish a defensive plan to prevent the program’s weaknesses from making it highly susceptible to external threats.