Stage Four: External Approval

PEQAB Application

In addition to the information required for internal approval, a submission of application to the Postsecondary Education Quality Assessment Board (PEQAB) requires that the program demonstrates that benchmarks are met in other areas. The PEQAB application is updated annually and so the most recent “Manual for Ontario Colleges” must be accessed from their website.

The Office of Academic Quality (OAQ) works with the program area and facilitates the production of evidence required to document how each of the Standards and Benchmarks are met. In addition to the information provided for internal approval, the required documents include:

  • Program Advisory Committee minutes that contain the motion that the program is supported
  • Curriculum Vitae for every faculty member that may be teaching in the program
  • gap analyses for degree completion arrangements
  • library resources that support the program
  • potential work-integrated learning partners

Full details related to these requirements can be found in the Manual for Ontario Colleges. Support for understanding and demonstrating these requirements is available from the OAQ.

Glossary
PEQAB
Research Ethics Board

PEQAB Quality Assessment and Ministry Approval

At this point during the process of applying for consent to deliver a new degree, the most common question is “What happens next?” The document Summary of PEQAB/MTCU Quality Assessment and Consent Approval Process for Degrees provides a summary of the usual process with some notes to help define key aspects of the process. Here are the highlights:

  1. The completed Application for Consent is submitted to the Ministry by the Office of Academic Quality (OAQ) with a cheque for $5,000.
  2. The Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU) refers the application to the Postsecondary Education Quality Assessment Board (PEQAB) and PEQAB appoints an expert panel to review the application.
  3. The Associate Dean, Dean, and OAQ work with the panel to set a date and an agenda for the site visit. Preparation for the site visit can begin immediately after the application is submitted. In their 2016 Handbook for Ontario Colleges (Appendix 8.1) PEQAB introduced a Site Visit: Suggested Agenda Template, which can be used as a guideline for planning the site visit.
  4. Members of the expert panel develop a report that assesses the application against the board’s standards and benchmarks and makes a recommendation about whether the proposed program meets PEQAB standards.
  5. The applicant is given an opportunity to respond to the panel’s report.
  6. The PEQAB Board reviews the application, the panel’s report and the college’s response, then makes a recommendation to the ministry to grant or deny consent for the degree.
  7. PEQAB sends a copy of the recommendation to the college prior to sending it to the ministry.
  8. The minister considers PEQAB’s recommendation and communicates the decision about consent, the duration of consent, and any conditions of consent, to the president of the college.

Funding Approval

If the expert panel report appears to be positive, a Funding Approval Request form for a new degree program can be sent to the ministry without waiting for official consent. This allows the potential for the funding application to be assessed concurrently with the minister’s decision regarding consent and shortens the length of time to obtain funding approval. The information required for funding approval is completed in the Curriculum Information Management system (CIM) at the end of the new program proposal form.

Download the Funding Approval Request guidelines
Continue to Stage Five: Stakeholder Notification