OCQAS Background
Ensuring quality and consistency across the post-secondary education system.
Ontario government legislation gave Ontario colleges the responsibility for autonomous program approval and development, with the requirement that quality assurance processes be in place to ensure that they consistently meet quality standards.
Following this new legislation, the Ontario College Quality Assurance Service (OCQAS) was established to provide efficient tools that ensure specific quality and consistency standards are met by the Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology in Ontario (CAAT). We are unique in our industry as we are owned, operated and funded by the 24 public colleges in Ontario. While our existence was mandated by the provincial government, we are not a government agency and have no reporting or other relationship with government which makes us independent of any specific educational institutions and of government, enabling us to offer arms-length, unbiased consultation, direction, and service.
The OCQAS is responsible for ensuring quality at both the program level through the Credential Validation Service (CVS) as well as at the institutional level through the College Quality Assurance Audit Process (CQAAP).
If you want to learn more about the people who make high-quality education possible, please visit our team page here.