Internal Quality Assurance Policy
The Postsecondary Education Quality Assessment Board (PEQAB) is committed to quality in the fulfillment of its mandate. This internal quality assurance policy delineates the Board's commitment to quality and outlines the general framework for work on assuring and improving the quality of the Board's activities, processes, and procedures.
Objective
The objective of the Board's internal quality assurance work is to assure and improve the quality of its activities. More specifically, the Board's internal quality assurance work will:
- ensure the rigor and transparency of its criteria, processes, and publications
- ensure that the Board:
- conforms to best practices
- maintains its leadership in quality assurance
- continues to implement its criteria in a fair, full, and consistent manner.
- enable the Board to account for its activities by:
- highlighting whether the Board's activities and results reflect its vision and guidelines
- providing measurements which document the quality of the Board's activities internally and for external stakeholders.
Some aspects of the Board's commitment to quality are identified in the following formal documents:
- the Post-secondary Education Quality Post-secondary Education Choice and Excellence Act, 2000, which outlines the Board's mandate;
- the Terms of Reference between the Postsecondary Education Quality Assessment Board and the Minister of Colleges and Universities--as these exist from time to time and
- the Board members' legislated obligations set out in Ontario's Agency Establishment & Accountability Directive.
Other internal quality assurance work occurs in the context of stakeholder consultations and the Board's core business of reviewing applications and making recommendation to the Minister.
Quality Assurance Principles
In addition to the governing documents, the Board's internal quality assurance work is informed by a number of principles:
- Strategic: The Board follows a comprehensive strategy to assure its own continuous quality.
- Systematic: The Board ensures that all components of internal quality work are consistent and documented.
- Learning: The Board utilizes experience from activities and processes for future improvement.
- External stakeholders: The Board actively involves its stakeholders in internal quality work.
- Internal reflection: The Board draws on the interpretation of internal quality work outcomes and of development activities as the basis for open and unbiased debate.
- Follow-up: The Board follows up all its surveys and stakeholder feedback, and there are clear guidelines for performing follow-up initiatives.
- Transparency: The Board communicates the results of its internal quality work to relevant stakeholders such as the Ministry, applicant institutions, and visitors to the Board's web site.
- External evaluation: The Board is evaluated by an external panel at least every seven years.
Main Elements
The Board has an internal quality assurance system consisting of the following main elements:
- The Board Member Code of Conduct which establishes rules that govern the professional and ethical responsibilities of Board members in carrying out the mandate of the Board.
- The PEQAB External Expert Review Panel Code of Conduct which establishes rules of for the professional and ethical responsibilities of the external expert review panel members appointed by the Board.
- Conflict of Interest Policies in place for Board members and all external experts who participate in the Board's quality assurance processes.
- An internal reflection mechanism to respond to internal recommendations for improvement.
- A Procedure for reporting survey findings and stakeholder feedback, and for following up the results.
- Ongoing monitoring of its quality assurance regime to ensure the Board's criteria remain in accordance with educational standards recognized in Ontario and other jurisdictions.
- Participation in Canadian and international quality assurance, conferences, and activities.
- External feedback mechanisms to collect and track feedback from stakeholders for future development, including:
- meetings/interviews with the different stakeholders carried out on an ad-hoc basis;
- external expert and applicant surveys after the completion of reviews, with surveys administered by an independent party.
- An external review of the quality of the Board's operation and its compliance with international best practice at least every seven years.
- A comprehensive internal review of its activities, based on internationally recognized best practice, conducted in preparation for an external review.