The Quality Council was established in 2010 to oversee the activities related to the assurance of quality for all levels of academic programs offered by Ontario’s publicly assisted universities. As such, it operates independently of the Council of Ontario Universities (COU), COU’s member and associate member institutions, and the government. In doing so, the Quality Council acts in accordance with all governance and procedural requirements of the Quality Assurance Framework.

While the Quality Council acts independently of COU, a not-for-profit Ontario corporation governed by the Not-for-Profit Corporations Act, 2010 (“ONCA”), the Quality Council falls under COU’s umbrella for all legal, financial and human resource related matters.

In addition to the oversight role of the Quality Council described above, the Council also helps institutions to improve and enhance their programs, for example, through the Quality Assurance Guide.

What does “quality assurance” mean in this case?

The task of the Quality Council is, above all, to ensure the continuing achievement of a defined level of quality in the design and delivery of an institution’s academic programs, with particular emphasis on the desired learning outcomes and Ontario’s degree level expectations, as well as on the monitoring of an institution’s compliance with its Institutional Quality Assurance Processes (IQAP).

The roles and responsibilities of the Quality Council, while respecting the autonomy and diversity of the individual institutions, are the following:

• Guide Ontario’s publicly assisted universities in the ongoing quality assurance of their academic programs
• Review and approve proposals for new graduate and undergraduate programs
• Ensure through regular audits that Ontario’s publicly assisted universities comply with quality assurance guidelines, policies and regulations for graduate and undergraduate programs
• Communicate final decisions to the Ministry of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security
• Review and revise, from time-to-time for future application, the quality assurance protocols of the Quality Council, in light of its own experiences and developments in the field of quality assurance
• Liaise with other quality assurance agencies, provincially and elsewhere
• Undergo regular independent review and audit at intervals of no longer than eight years