A message from Fiona Allan, Vice President, Academic:
I am writing to announce that the college is in the early stages of preparing for the College Quality Assurance Audit Process (CQAAP), an important institutional-level process to ensure quality assurance and continuous improvement of our programs and student success.
All Ontario colleges are required by the Ministry of Colleges and Universities to participate in this process every five years. The standards provide the framework for Ontario’s colleges in assessing the extent to which their quality assurance mechanisms meet the established standards. Niagara College last completed a full cycle of this institutional quality assurance process in 2017. Notably, NC received an audit decision of “mature effort” in 2017, the highest decision a college can receive.
The audit process
The Centre for Academic Excellence (CAE) is once again leading the process, which begins with the self-study (due February 2022), followed by the site visit (May 2022) and action plan. Our faculty are integral to this process, as their work showcases how NC meets the CQAAP requirements.
The self-study
During the Fall term, the CAE will be working with faculty, deans and associate deans to gather evidence to demonstrate that we exceed the CQAAP requirements. This includes organizing a series of meetings to gather evidence and develop narratives for our institutional self-study to document the ways in which our operational divisions – through policies, practices and daily processes – support quality at Niagara College.
The site visit
The site visit is scheduled for the week of May 2 to 6, 2022. During their visit, two to four auditors will interview a variety of stakeholders – faculty, administrators, staff, Board of Governors, current students and alumni – to validate the self-study.
The impact of the CQAAP audit
Jeffrey Post, Associate Director of Academic Quality in the CAE explains the purpose of the CQAAP audit: “A common myth about audits is that external assessors are looking to find faults with our processes. The reality is that the CQAAP audit is about finding ways to improve our academic policies and processes, and to celebrate the great methods we have in place. The audit is an opportunity to reflect on and publicly showcase the pride we take in our academic programs at Niagara College.”
In the spirit of innovation, results of the last audit inspired the development of improvements to the quality of our programs. One recommendation changed the way we develop new or revise existing programs, which include a more collaborative and thorough consultation process. The Experiential Learning Toolkit was also implemented from an auditor recommendation and is a valuable resource for faculty to assess experiential learning opportunities in program curriculum.
NC’s CQAAP project plan is available online. Learn more about CQAAP on the OCQAS website.
Fiona Allan
Vice President, Academic
