Developing a QEP as a part reaffirmation with SACSCOC is an opportunity for the institution to enhance overall institutional quality and effectiveness by focusing on an issue or issues the institution considers important to improving student learning and/or student success. Responding to this requirement may also provide an incentive for focusing critical and creative energy.
Exploration of the institution’s culture, strategic planning, goals, mission, and assessment results is a good place to begin the search for an appropriate topic. Tapping into issues centered on student learning and student success where shared interests, concerns, and aspirations have already surfaced or where data have already been collected and analyzed did prove fruitful.
Dr. Fran Chastain
QEP Coordinator
Dean for Student Affairs
(706) 754-7855
fran.chastain@northgatech.edu
Mallory Hicks
QEP Co-Chair
Director of Admissions
(706) 754-7724
mhicks@northgatech.edu
The Quality Enhancement Plan is the component of the accreditation process that reflects and affirms the commitment of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to the enhancement of the quality of higher education and to the proposition that student learning and student success are at the heart of the mission of all institutions of higher learning.
While the Compliance Certification component of the accreditation process focuses on the past and the present, the QEP looks to the future. Institutions are required to develop a plan for increasing the effectiveness of some aspect of its educational program relating to student learning and/or student success. Student Learning is broadly defined as changes in:
Student success is also defined broadly as improvements in key student outcomes, such as:
The development of a QEP that successfully addresses the quality of student learning and/or student success requires a significant commitment from the institutional community. NGTC’s support of the Quality Enhancement Plan should be evident through:
The QEP should be clear and succinct. The document should demonstrate how NGTC will initiate, implement, and complete the QEP. The document will include:
The QEP does not have to be a brand new idea. An institution may develop a plan that extends, modifies, redirects, or strengthens an improvement that is already underway. Another option would be to develop a QEP that has been in the planning stages prior to the beginning of preparations for reaffirmation.
The chosen topic should impact as many students as possible but should also be focused, manageable, realistic, and measurable.