The large number of newly established institutions of higher learning resulting from a relaxation in restrictions on establishing colleges and universities combined with reductions in government funding for public colleges and universities has further aggravated the scarceness and uneven distribution of resources for higher education. As a result, every college and university is urgently looking at ways improve their operations in the hopes of attracting more students and funding. This paper makes a review of the relevant literature, including, primarily, rules and regulations related to physical education departments in the Ministry of Education's University Law, organizational outlines for physical education departments in public colleges and universities, material on the development of physical education programs and systems for assessing performance of those departments at colleges and universities, and research relating to balanced scorecards. After collecting, analyzing and organizing this material, directors of related programs and scholars were sent the results and asked to comment, with their suggestions serving as an important reference for setting indicators. As a result, we put forth a performance assessment for physical education departments in public colleges and universities made up of four main aspects, 11 strategic goals, 65 key performance indicators. The use of such a method to evaluate actual performance will help to improve both the operations and the quality of instruction at physical education departments.