Every five years St. Clair College participates in the College Quality Assurance Audit Process (CQAAP). The quality audit is a legislated institutional level process that involves the regular and cyclical review of our quality assurance mechanisms through an evidence-based assessment model. The purpose of the audit is developmental in nature, and its intent is to ensure continuous improvement.
There are multiple stages to the audit as illustrated in this infographic CQAAP Stages of the Audit Process | Ontario College Quality Assurance Service (ocqas.org).
The evaluation criteria for the audit is based on six standards, each with a number of accompanying requirements. These standards form the framework used by St. Clair College to assess how our quality assurance framework and mechanisms meet the established standards.
The six quality assurance standards are:
- Program Quality Management System;
- Vocational Learning Outcomes as the Centre for Program Development (throughout the program lifecycle);
- Conformity with Government Requirements;
- Program Delivery and Student Assessment;
- Existence, Monitoring and Communication of Policies and Practices that Influence and impact Academic Quality;
- Availability and Allocation of College-Wide Resources.
St. Clair College continuously monitors and reviews our quality assurance processes to support our commitment to academic and service excellence. Through the audit self-study report our focus is directed at providing the evidence that demonstrates a critical assessment of areas of strengths and improvement, implementation of corrective actions, and evaluation of the impact these measures have on continuous quality improvement.