Cyclical Program Review Process
Cyclical Program Reviews (CPRs) are at the heart of Â鶹´«Ã½ Quality Assurance Processes. In their focus on continuous improvement, CPRs are essential to ensuring all academic programs both meet the university's standards for academic excellence and are well-resourced and sustainable. These reviews provide an opportunity to academic units to reassess program strengths and areas for improvement. Each program is reviewed at least once every eight years.
Once complete, executive summaries of all cyclical reviews are posted on the Office of the Provost website. These summaries include an implementation plan which each unit receives at the end of its review. Faculty Deans monitors units’ progress in responding to the points raised in the review.
Please click on the video below to watch an overview of the CPR process from Dr. Gavan Watson, Vice-Provost, Teaching and Learning.
The image below shows the full Cyclical Program Review cycle, which is a cycle of continuous improvement for each academic program.
In January, units and Faculties will receive a Notice of Assessment from the Provost's office, indicating which programs are to be assessed in the upcoming cycle. This is based on the Cyclical Program Review Schedule, which is designed to ensure that all programs are assessed within an 8-year window. The dates in the schedule refer to the academic year in which the program will have its Site Visit. For example, if a program is due to be assessed in 2026-2027, the unit would receive their Notice of Assessment in January 2025. In May of that year, units attend a CPR Orientation to receive guidance and templates for the CPR process and to connect with those who can help them to navigate the process.
The Self-Study is the mechanism by which programs communicate and document their quality assurance practices and is a key element of the Review Team’s evaluation when making their recommendations. A Review Team will use the Self-Study to determine:
- Are the program objectives consistent with the institution's mission and academic plans as set out in the Principal's Strategic Framework?
- Are the programs' measures adequate to ensure academic integrity, and to address equity, diversity, inclusion, accessibility, and Indigenization? Does the program have anti-racism or other anti-oppression initiatives, and are they adequate?
- Are the program-level learning outcomes clearly spelled out, and are they aligned with the Degree Level Expectations? Are there unique program-level learning outcomes for every program under review?
- Do the teaching and learning activities, methods of assessment, modes of delivery, and program requirements support attainment of the program level learning outcomes?
- Is the quality and distribution of the faculty’s expertise adequate to support the learning outcomes of the program(s)?
- Does the program(s) foster an enriching student learning experience?
- Does the program(s) use existing resources (physical, financial, human) appropriately and effectively?
- Does the program have plans in place for monitoring student success?
Please click on the video below to watch an overview of the Self-Study process from Dr. Gavan Watson, Vice-Provost, Teaching and Learning.
Units develop the Self-Study by completing the Self-Study Template, which can be obtained by contacting quqap@queensu.ca, along with the Self-Study Companion Guide, which provides guidance in filling out the Template.
The following Guidance Documents will inform the development of the Self-Study:
Guidance for the Development of Program-Level Learning Outcomes
Student Feedback and Survey Examples
I-EDIAA Guidance and Resources
Units are responsible for ensuring that their Self-Study meets a set of predefined criteria before submission. These criteria will be provided to each unit at Orientation. Once the Self-Study is complete, units submit it to quqap@queensu.ca.
The Vice-Provost, Teaching and Learning team will assess each submission against these criteria and either approve it for the next stage or provide targeted feedback on required revisions. Once approved, the Self-Study will proceed to the Faculty Dean’s office and the Vice-Provost and Dean of SGSPA for review before being shared with the review team.
The purpose of the site visit is to allow the Review Team to follow up on matters raised by the Self-Study by interviewing students, staff, faculty, and others who can most appropriately provide informed comments, and to examine the physical facilities used by the program. The site visit is conducted by two external reviewers, one internal reviewer, and if requested by the unit, additional reviewers such as professional reviewers.
The unit nominates potential reviewers using the Review Team Nominations and Ranking Template, which are then ranked by the Faculty Dean and the Dean, School of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs (if applicable), then approved by the Vice-Provost, Teaching and Learning. To maintain the arm’s length requirement in departmentalized faculties, the Faculty Office will be the main point of contact for reviewers when arranging and coordinating site visits. While developing a list of nominees, the academic unit is encouraged to contact review team nominees to assess their willingness and potential availability to participate in the review; however, further contact is strongly discouraged.
The Faculty Office completes a Review Team Itinerary Template and sends it to quqap@queensu.ca.
The following Guidance Documents will inform the External Review process:
Guidance for Nominating Reviewers
Once the site visit is complete, the external reviewers will write the Review Team Report, in consultation with the internal reviewer.
When the Review Team Report is complete and has been submitted to the Provost's Office, it is sent to the academic unit for consideration and response. This response takes the form of the Final Assessment Report and Implementation Plan (FAR/IP), which is completed using a template provided by the Provost’s office. The Final Assessment Report responds to the Review Team Report as a whole, addressing any factual inaccuracies, and responding to each of the Review Team Recommendations. The Implementation Plan outlines the unit’s plans for implementing the recommendations provided by the review team. The FAR/IP is written in collaboration with the Faculty Dean and the Vice-Provost and Dean, School of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs (if applicable). Once complete, the FAR/IP is sent to quqap@queensu.ca to be shared with the Senate Cyclical Program Review Committee (SCPRC).
The Senate Cyclical Program Review Committee (SCPRC) reviews and approves the Review Team Report and the FAR/IP. Once it is approved, it is shared with Senate and an abbreviated version is posted to the Provost's website. Previous Final Assessment Plans and Implementation Plans can be viewed on the Reports website.
Once the Final Assessment Report and Implementation Plan is approved, the monitoring and continuous improvement stage of Cyclical Program Review begins. The Faculty Dean oversees the unit's progress on implementing the recommendations as they work toward their next review cycle. Between the review cycles, units complete two Progress Reports, using the CPR Follow-Up Report Template, 18 months and 4 years after they receive the Final Assessment Report and Implementation Plan. Previous Progress Reports can be viewed on the Reports website.
Cyclical Program Review Guidance Documents
Cyclical Program Review Templates
Cyclical Program Review FAQs
Below you'll find common questions about the cyclical program review (CPR) process. If you don't see your question, please send it to: quqap@queensu.ca.
The Self-Study should be submitted to quqap@queensu.ca by the end of April. Any necessary revisions will be communicated to the unit in time for final submission by the end of July.
The Self-Study is a significant research undertaking involving multiple resources and stakeholders. It is most effective when approached collaboratively as a team effort, with a well-defined plan in place, rather than by a single author. During the CPR Orientation, each unit receives a suggested timeline and workload schedule. While the Self-Study submission deadline is fixed, units have the flexibility to adjust the timeline to best fit their key research questions.
During the initial phase of Self-Study planning, it is crucial for units to adopt approaches that promote a process that is instructor-driven and student-focused. This can be achieved through various means, such as organizing faculty workshops, retreats, and consultations, actively involving students, collecting comprehensive feedback from all stakeholders through data collection, and encouraging collaborative authorship.
Units are encouraged to begin identifying possible nominees early in the cyclical program review process. The nominations should be submitted to quqap@queensu.ca in October, five months after the CPR orientation. The Office of the Provost, the faculty dean/associate dean, and the School of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs, as appropriate, will review and rank the nominations. The final ranking will be communicated by the Office of the Provost to the Faculty Office who will invite the reviewers to participate.
Site visits by the review team should be scheduled when students are on campus between September and March following the completion of the self-study.
Units are strongly encouraged to consult regularly with their Faculty Dean and with the Vice-Provost and Dean, School of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs, in the development of their Self-Study.
Centrally, the main contact for the cyclical program review process and guidance is the Manager, Quality Assurance, in the Office of the Provost at quqap@queensu.ca.
Student feedback on the student experience is a key component of a self-study. Units are encouraged to plan how they will engage students in the process early to ensure feedback is robust and adequately reflects the student experience in each program.
Faculty CVs can be provided either as PDFs combined alphabetically into one file, or as links to individual CVs. The approach for all CVs should be the same, i.e., all PDFs or all links.
For the purposes of the Â鶹´«Ã½ Quality Assurance Process (QUQAP), "core faculty" is defined as tenured, tenure-track, emeriti, and continuing adjunct faculty.
We recognize that clinical instructors teach foundation courses for programs with professional accreditation however, their CVs are not required by the Quality Council. It is recommended that the self-study include a list of clinical instructors, their qualifications, and which course(s) they teach.
The time period that is under review is the time period since the last cyclical program review, typically 7-8 years and generally considered as academic rather than calendar years. That review should be used to inform a forward-focused Self-Study that examines where programs are in the present and how they will improve in the future.
The data package you will receive from the Office of Institutional Research and Planning, and School of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs (if appropriate), will contain data up to the end of the academic year before you began writing the self-study. Where applicable, Units are encouraged to include discussion of significant developments occurring in the year the self-study is developed in the document.
An additional discretionary reviewer may be added to the review team if requested by the Unit and approved by the relevant Dean(s) and the Provost (or delegate).