Process

Normally conducted on a program or unit once every seven years, the academic quality assurance process has six distinct phases. The first four phases are designed to be completed in one calendar year with the final two closing phases following soon after:

1. Self-Study —The Self Study Committee conducts an in-depth examination of the program or unit, focusing on what the program or unit does and how it does it, and using a standard set of data provided by Institutional Analysis. The result of the self-study is a Self-Study Report, the outline and required content of which is specified in the Academic Quality Assurance Policy & Process. The report includes an outline of suggested future directions and recommendations for the program or unit.

2. External Review —The dean in consultation with the Self Study Committee selects an External Review team of two members from outside the institution who are from a similar discipline to the unit or program under review.[1] The External Review Team does a site visit to gather information on the quality of the program or unit, and presents their findings in an External Review Report. This report provides preliminary recommendations to the program for improving the quality of the program or unit. 

3. Program Response —The Self Study Committee develops a written response to the issues identified in the External Review Report and the Self-Study Report. The Self Study Committee agrees or disagrees with each of the preliminary recommendations of the external review report, providing rationale when they disagree.

4. Dean’s Response and Presentation —The dean of the faculty in which the program or unit resides develops a written response to the documents produced in the review which addresses the findings from these reports and includes implications for future academic planning. The dean of the relevant faculty does a final presentation to Academic Quality Assurance Committee (AQAC) in which they summarize the results and future strategies to address issues.

5. Action Plan — The Academic Quality Assurance Committee (AQAC) committee reflects on the contents of the Self Study, External Review, Program Response, and Dean’s Response to create a list of suggested recommendations for the Action Plan. The Action Plan draft is submitted to the Provost and Vice-President (Academic) who finalizes the recommendations which are then submitted to the dean of the faculty, and program area chair. The AQAC Chair meets with the dean of the faculty and the program area chair to review the Action Plan and assist in creating a plan to implement the recommendations from the Provost.

6. Review Close — The Academic Quality Assurance Committee (AQAC) then writes a memo to the President of the University that summarizes the review and its results and indicates that the review has been satisfactorily finished. Once the process is complete, the main points from the four review documents are summarized and released for general communication on the quality assurance website.