PEQAB's Internal Quality Assurance
The Board is committed to quality in the fulfillment of its mandate. Its 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, now and in the future. Part of this commitment includes
- A comprehensive internal review of its activities, based on internationally recognized best practice, conducted at least every seven years addressing at least the Board's accountability; transparency; resources; legislative mandate; relationship with postsecondary institutions; requirements for institutional/program performance and institutional self-evaluation and reporting; review of institutions; and collaboration with other quality assurance agencies. This comprises a "self-study" in preparation for
- An external review of the quality of the Board's operation and its compliance with international best practice at least every seven years.
The documents below are reports of these activities.
Self-Study Report
To ensure that the Board continues to implement its criteria in a fair, full and consistent manner, PEQAB embarked on a comprehensive internal review of its processes and criteria, and secretariat operations. The self-study was finalized in January 2017.
External Review Report with PEQAB Responses
It is best practice for quality assurance agencies to undergo an external review at regular intervals (typically every five to seven years). Consistent with this expectation, PEQAB's Internal QA Policy requires an external evaluation at least every seven years (the previous external evaluation of PEQAB took place in 2011). The two key objectives for the 2017 external review were to evaluate the extent to which the Board
- fulfills its own mandate, objectives, and purposes including those set out in legislation and in the Memorandum of Understanding between PEQAB and the Minister of Advanced Education and Skills Development and the Chair of PEQAB
- meets internationally recognized standards represented by the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (European Standards and Guidelines, ESG).
The external review was conducted over a four-month period from February 2017 to May 2017. The five-member panel, appointed by a third party Review Coordinator, included:
- one international expert in quality assurance: Dr. Lee Harvey, former Director of the Centre for Research and Evaluation, Sheffield Hallam University
- one representative of a Canadian quality assurance agency: Philip Cameron, Director, Quality Assurance and Private Vocational Schools, Universities and Private Vocational Schools Branch, Ministry of Advanced Education, Saskatchewan
- one (current or former) president or other senior administrator from an Ontario higher education institution: Dr. Joy McKinnon, former Vice-President, Academic Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology
- one person from industry based in Ontario: Geoffrey King, Cisco Canada's Senior Advisor and Business Transformation Solutions lead for the financial services industry
- a student currently or recently enrolled in a degree program at an Ontario college: Alex Rodgers, recent Conestoga College graduate of the Honours Bachelor of Public Relations.
The panel reviewed documents, including the Self-Study Report and the Report on Self-Study Recommendations, conducted a site visit, and held interviews with Board members, the secretariat, and a wide variety of PEQAB stakeholders.