Graduate proposals for expedited approval

The Quality Assurance protocol allows for expedited approval of the following limited set of proposals which does not involve external review:

• new for-credit graduate diploma
• new graduate collaborative program
• declaring a new field in existing graduate programs

The first step in such proposals is approval by the AAU (and faculty council, if applicable) before submission to PDC and Senate. In order that the Quality Assurance office can provide support for such proposals, please note that any new program development needs to be registered with the Office of Quality Assurance before the AAU proceeds with the institutional approval steps. At this point the proposing AAU can request that the Office of Quality Assurance review the proposal and provide guidance before submission to PDC.
 

• Summary of the main process for new proposals that qualify for expedited approval:

Step 1: Preparing a proposal brief and faculty CVs

Deans, in collaboration with department heads and faculty members, are responsible for the development of expedited program review proposal briefs. As per the University’s established practice, the AAU Head in collaboration with faculty members prepares a Proposal Brief (PDC Form A) for submission to the Quality Council, describing the proposal - the PDC Form A can be found on the Senate web-site. In addition, the CVs of all faculty members in the AAU submitting the proposal must be appended to Form A, as well as the CVs of other faculty members who will be involved in the new diploma/program proposal. The CVs must be prepared in a specific format - for details see "Faculty CVs - resume template (new programs)" and "Faculty CVs - mapping document (new programs)" in templates and resources.    

Step 2: Institutional approval

Review of all documentation created for the proposal to determine whether the proposal meets the quality assurance standards: the institutional approval includes approval by the AAU council, faculty coordinating council, Graduate Faculty Council, PDC and finally, Senate.

Step 3: The proposal is forwarded to the Quality Council for review and recommendations.

Definitions (adapted from the Quality Assurance framework):

Graduate Diploma Programs: Universities may grant diplomas in acknowledgement of students’ participation in either for-credit or not-for-credit activities at the undergraduate and graduate level. Not-for-credit and for-credit undergraduate diploma programs are not subject to approval or audit by the Quality Council. The Quality Council recognizes only three types or categories of Graduate Diploma and has specific appraisal conditions (and an associated submission template) applying to each:

• Type 1: Awarded when a candidate admitted to a master’s program leaves the program after completing a certain proportion of the requirements. Students are not admitted directly to these programs. When new, these programs require submission to the Quality Council for an Expedited Approval (no external reviewers required) prior to their adoption. Once approved, they will be incorporated into the schedule for cyclical reviews as part of the parent program.
• Type 2: Offered in conjunction with a master’s (or doctoral) degree, the admission to which requires that the candidate be already admitted to the master’s (or doctoral) program. This represents an additional, usually interdisciplinary, qualification. When new, these programs require submission to the Quality Council for an Expedited Approval (no external reviewers required) prior to their adoption. Once approved, they will be incorporated into the schedule for cyclical reviews as part of the parent program.
• Type 3: A stand-alone, direct-entry program, generally developed by a unit already offering a related master’s (and sometimes doctoral) degree, and designed to meet the needs of a particular clientele or market. Where the program has been conceived and developed as a distinct and original entity, the institution will use the Expedited Approval. All such programs, once approved, will be subject to the normal cycle of program reviews, typically in conjunction with the related degree program.

Collaborative Program: A collaborative program is an intra-university graduate program that provides an additional multidisciplinary experience for students enrolled in and completing the degree requirements for one of a number of approved programs. Students meet the admission requirements of and register in the participating (or “home”) program but complete, in addition to the degree requirements of that program, the additional requirements specified by the collaborative program. The degree conferred is that of the home program, and the completion of the collaborative program is indicated by a transcript notation indicating the additional specialization that has been attained (e.g., “MA in Political Science with specialization in American Studies”).

Field: In graduate programs, "field" refers to an area of specialization or concentration that is related to the demonstrable and collective strengths of the program’s faculty. Institutions are not required to declare fields at either the master’s or doctoral level but the declaration of a field allows programs to advertise specific areas of strength within the program (e.g., a field of "Child Developmental Psychology" within a Psychology program, etc.).