Cyclical Program Reviews (CPR) are at the heart of the University of Windsor's Institutional Quality Assurance Process. In their focus on continuous improvement, CPRs are essential to ensuring all undergraduate and graduate programs meet the university's standards for academic excellence. These reviews, which occur on an 8-year cycle, provide academic units (AAUs) to reassess program strengths and areas for improvement. AAUs can check when their program(s) are scheduled to be reviewed on the Cyclical Review Schedule.
Purpose
Program review provides an opportunity for faculty, staff, students and stakeholders in an academic program to come together to identify program strengths and areas for improvement. It is characterized by a reflective, analytical, consultative, and collaborative self-study review of factors contributing to the delivery of the program. As part of the review process, an external peer review will take place over the course of two days that will provide the program with recommendations to consider in the conception of their action plan.
The goal of cyclical program review is to foster a culture of continuous improvement in pursuit of academic quality, providing students with the best possible educational experience at the University of Windsor.
Once completed, executive summaries of all cyclical reviews are posted on the University Secretariat's website. These summaries include an implementation plan which each unit receives at the end of its review. The provost, together with faculty deans, monitors units' progress in responding to the points raised in the review.
Support
The Office of Quality Assurance provides considerable support to academic units, guiding them through the quality assurance process. Department Heads and Directors will be contacted in February/March to identify which programs are subject to review in the upcoming academic year. We encourage a meeting with all faculty and staff for the academic units with program reviews with the IQAP Office so the process and can be explained, the resources and templates available be shared and to outline the deadlines to meet during the process.
For more information or support during the review process contact the IQAP Office.
Cyclical Review Components
For details refer to the section entitled "Self-Study Preparation" within the Cyclical Review Timeline and Process.