The Impact of Quality Assurance Policies on Curriculum Development in Ontario Postsecondary Education (original) (raw)

2020, Canadian Journal of Higher Education

Two trends in the evolution of quality assurance in Canadian postsecondary education have been the emergence of outcomes based quality standards and the demand for balancing accountability and improvement. Using a realist, process-based approach to impact analysis, this study examined four quality assurance events at two universities and two colleges in Ontario to identify how system-wide quality assurance policies have impacted the curriculum development process of academic programs within postsecondary institutions. The study revealed different approaches that postsecondary institutions chose to use in response to quality assurance policies and the mechanisms that may account for different experiences. These mechanisms include endeavours to balance accountability and continuous improvement, leadership support, and the emerging quality assurance function of teaching and learning centres. These findings will help address the challenges in quality assurance policy implementation within Canadian postsecondary education and enrich international discussions on the accountability-improvement dichotomy in the context of quality assurance.

The Quality Assurance System for Ontario Postsecondary Education: 2010 ~ 2014

Higher Education Evaluation and Development, 2015

The period of 2010 to 2014 marked a relatively stable stage in the evolving quality assurance system for Ontario postsecondary education, particularly following massive changes after 2000. The current system consists of three frameworks overseen respectively by three quality assurance agencies-the Ontario Universities Council on Quality Assurance, the Ontario College Quality Assurance Service, and the Postsecondary Education Quality Assessment Board, each serving different purposes. This paper uses van Vught and Westerheijden's (1994) general model of quality assessment and Jeliazkova and Westerheijden's (2002) Phase Model of quality assurance systems development as heuristic tools for the analysis. The following four areas are discussed: formalized quality mechanisms with diversity; the arms-length tripartite relationship with a distinction between self-regulation and government regulation; mixed phases of quality assurance development and the maturing process; and gaps in the system. It is argued that within fifteen years, a comprehensive and relatively mature quality assurance system with diverse but rigorous mechanisms has been developed for Ontario postsecondary education although a few deficiencies exist, including the continued lack of coordination within the system. The evolution of the system appears to reflect a path trajectory of governance structure development of the Ontario postsecondary education system as well as be a result of interactions between the local and the global.

The Quality Assurance of Degree Education in Canada

Research in Comparative and International Education, 2010

Under the Canadian constitution, responsibility for education is assigned to the provinces. In some provinces, universities are based in institution-specific statutes, in others, in system-wide legislation. Except for the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, the provinces leave the quality assurance of academic activities to the universities. In the last 15 years, the post-secondary landscape has become more complex. Four provinces have enabled non-degree-granting colleges to offer specific degree programs on the basis of government approval; three have transformed colleges into universities; four permit external universities, public and private, and new private universities based in Canada to offer programs. Though the innovative provinces established quality assurance agencies to screen programs and organizations, the new degrees met resistance from many public universities, which, in the absence of a national accrediting body, took the position that they would only recognize degrees from institutions belonging to their own promotional national body, the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC). Though the new agencies have published both academic standards and rigorous external review procedures, this response from the public universities in effect marginalized the new degree programs and providers. Thus, the state of quality assurance in higher education in Canada is in a state of flux. This article reviews the state of quality assurance activity across the country in both public universities and in the new quality assurance agencies. It concludes with reflections on the challenge of inserting new degrees and new kinds of degree-granting institutions into a framework of academic legitimacy that all players will accept.

Using Quality Assurance Frameworks to Support an Institutional Culture of Academic Integrity at Canadian Universities

Academic Integrity in Canada, 2022

In Canada, there is a national academic quality assurance framework—the Canadian Degree Qualifications Framework (CDQF) that guides quality assurance standards within universities across the provinces and territories. These standards exist to support the quality and consistency of postsecondary academic programming in Canada, and provide mechanisms for quality enhancement. The CDQF is supported by further quality assurance mechanisms at the provincial level. While the CDQF includes the notion of academic integrity as a learning outcome requirement, the implementation and review of this quality indicator across the sector is nebulous. The ongoing support for a culture of academic integrity requires a holistic approach, which includes the alignment of various policies and processes. It also involves the inclusion of academic integrity best practices into quality assurance processes, such as curriculum development and program review. In this chapter we discuss several quality assurance...

Exploring organisational learning in universities' responses to a quality assurance reform: experiences from Ontario, Canada

Quality in Higher Education, 2018

Amidst the international movement toward establishing more rigorous external quality assurance, the recent quality assurance reform within the Ontario public university sector involves a shift of focus from external to internal quality assurance. This paper explores to what extent organisational learning was occurring at three comprehensive Ontario universities while they managed institutional change for assuring the quality of graduate programmes in response to the system-wide quality assurance reform. Drawing upon Senge’s framework for building a learning organisation, the study found that certain levels of organisational learning were taking place, albeit to different extent and in different pace, at the three Ontario universities during the initial years of transition. The findings also illustrate that institutional change and organisational learning are inextricably linked and that organisational learning is occurring as a result of the interactions between the organisational domain of action and the individual domain of learning.

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Openo, J., Laverty, C., Kolomitro, K., Borin, P., Goff, L, Stranach, M., & Gomaa, N. (2017). Bridging the divide: Leveraging the scholarship of teaching and learning for quality enhancement. Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 8(2), Article 6.

Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning., 2017