Academic Quality Improvement Program (AQIP)

AQIP Overview

Launched in July 1999 with a generous grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Academic Quality Improvement Program infuses the principles and benefits of continuous improvement into the culture of colleges and universities by providing an alternative process through which an already-accredited institution can maintain its regional accreditation from the Higher Learning Commission. With AQIP, an institution demonstrates it meets accreditation standards and expectations through sequences of events that align with those ongoing activities that characterize organizations striving to improve their performance. AQIP’s Principles of High Performance Organizations—Focus, Involvement, Leadership, Learning, People, Collaboration, Agility, Foresight, Information, and Integrity—are critical for organizations seeking to achieve a systematic approach to continuous quality improvement.

AQIP CATEGORIES

To ensure institutions are focused on key processes and continuous improvement activities that help them achieve their goals, AQIP provides a framework which includes nine key categories. Each AQIP category focuses on a related group of key processes and encourages institutions to analyze and explore opportunities for improving these processes and understanding the interrelationships among them. The nine categories include:

Helping Students Learn
Accomplishing Other Distinctive Objectives
Understanding Students’ and Other Stakeholders’ Needs
Valuing People
Leading and Communicating
Supporting Institutional Operations
Measuring Effectiveness
Planning Continuous Improvement
Building Collaborative Relationships

ACTION PROJECTS

Based on the AQIP categories, institutions identify Action Projects. The selection of Action Projects is designed to be the kickoff for a continuous series of projects, the successfully completed projects accumulating into a visible record of the institution’s quality improvement activities over time. For an overview of Southwestern College’s active and/or completed action projects, visit the AQIP Action Project Directory. Professional Studies maintains at least one active Action Project at all times.