Abstract
AbstractIn Canada, there is a national academic quality assurance framework—the Canadian Degree Qualifications Framework (CDQF) that guides quality assurance standards within universities across the provinces and territories. These standards exist to support the quality and consistency of postsecondary academic programming in Canada, and provide mechanisms for quality enhancement. The CDQF is supported by further quality assurance mechanisms at the provincial level. While the CDQF includes the notion of academic integrity as a learning outcome requirement, the implementation and review of this quality indicator across the sector is nebulous. The ongoing support for a culture of academic integrity requires a holistic approach, which includes the alignment of various policies and processes. It also involves the inclusion of academic integrity best practices into quality assurance processes, such as curriculum development and program review. In this chapter we discuss several quality assurance tools used in Canadian universities, with a focus on Ontario institutions, and discuss opportunities to leverage them to support academic integrity. The CDQF and provincial/territorial quality assurance frameworks should be better utilized for a holistic response to academic misconduct, to strengthen teaching and learning, and develop a culture of integrity in higher education. Opportunities within cyclical program review, curriculum mapping and educational development are discussed to highlight opportunities for academic integrity specialists, quality assurance staff, faculty, and policy makers to raise academic integrity awareness and weave best practices across an institution. Implications for the community college sector are also included. Recommendations can be applied to postsecondary institutions across Canada and integrated with quality assurance practices promoted by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) and others academic integrity advocates around the world.
Highlights
In Canada, there is a national academic quality assurance framework—the Canadian Degree Qualifications Framework (CDQF) that guides quality assurance standards within universities across the provinces and territories
In this chapter we argue that quality assurance mechanisms can be used to promote and reinforce academic integrity, which results in long term positive impacts for students, higher educational institutions, and communities at large
Academic integrity is included as a learning outcome for all Bachelor, Master’s, and Doctoral programs, whereas, the CDQF only explicitly refers to academic integrity at the Bachelor’s level, it is implied that the standards are cumulative, “and each degree level presupposes the Degree Level Expectation
Summary
In Canada, the oversight of higher education is decentralized (Weinrib & Jones, 2014), with each province and territory having responsibility for the quality assurance of its university programs. This education structure was determined in 1867 and is written into Canada’s Constitution Act (Robson, 2012). The CDQF lays out the degree categories (i.e., Bachelors, Master’s, Doctoral), their typical length, minimum admission requirements and qualification standards. These standards, often referred to as ‘degree level expectations’ (DLEs), describe competencies and general learning outcomes, including an outcome to support academic integrity. Academic integrity is included as a learning outcome for all Bachelor, Master’s, and Doctoral programs (see Tables 27.1 and 27.2), whereas, the CDQF only explicitly refers to academic integrity at the Bachelor’s level, it is implied that the standards are cumulative, “and each degree level presupposes the
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