Capilano University's commitment to academic quality assurance includes university-supported academic review, participation in the province-wide Quality Assurance Process Audit, and program renewal in alignment the University's strategic plans and commitments to learners.
Academic Review
Academic review is an important means of promoting accountability and ensuring structured opportunities for reflection and refinement in the service of learners and their learning journey. At CapU, academic review encompasses scaffolded annual, biannual, and cyclical activities:
- annual academic unit data snapshots completed every fall term;
- biannual curriculum map reviews completed every two years;
- biannual student learning journey map reviews completed every two years; and
- cyclical academic unit review every seven years.
The primary building blocks of cyclical academic unit review are a self-study report, dialogue with an external review committee, and an action plan. The upcoming cyclical academic unit reviews are currently scheduled through to the 2029-2030 academic year. See Academic Unit Review: 7-Year Schedule (pdf).
CapU's approach to academic review is informed by the University's commitment to curriculum mapping as expressed by the institutional commitment the creation and maintenance of maps illustrating how program-specific requirements on a course-by-course basis contribute to the student learning journey.
All program-specific course requirements are mapped against program learning outcomes (PLOs) and the institutional learning outcomes (ILOs). Degree-level programs of study are also required to demonstrate how the PLOs meet provincial degree-level standards as established by the Degree Quality Assessment Board (DQAB).
As a past member of the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, a US-based accreditation body, the maturity of CapU's program-specific curriculum maps and Cap Core, the University's general education framework, are grounded in CapU's 10-year affiliation with the NWCCU from 2013 to 2023.
In alignment with its ongoing commitment to academic quality, the University looks forward to working with BC post-secondary partners, participating in the DQAB's Quality Assurance Process Audit, and retaining its Education Quality Assurance (EQA) designation.