Institutional Audit

Durham College (DC) undergoes a regular and cyclical institutional-level external review of the quality assurance mechanisms within the college. This College Quality Assurance Audit Process (CQAAP), managed by the Ontario College Quality Assurance Service (OCQAS), provides the framework for all of Ontario’s publically funded colleges to assess the extent to which their quality assurance mechanisms meet the established six standards and 32 requirements.

DC successfully completed its last CQAAP audit in 2018, and its quality assurance mechanisms were found to be mature, the highest possible rating. The college fully met all of the six standards as well as 31 of the 32 requirements; the single requirement was deemed partially met. The report commended the college for its commitment to consistency, professional development, systems, and creation of a “culture of collaboration”. The report identified these elements as highly regarded and considered best practices across the system within the province.

As part of the audit process, the college reflects on their quality assurance mechanisms and submits a self-study, identifying areas of improvement in the spirit of continuous improvement. In the 2018 audit process, DC identified 22 areas of improvement in addition to three recommendations by the CQAAP auditors. In April 2020, OCQAS approved DC’s status report detailing a 60% completion rate of the 25 commitments identified in our 2018 CQAAP with the remaining commitments well underway.

DC will undergo the next CQAAP audit during the 2022-2023 academic year.