Continuous Quality Improvement

Continuous quality improvement is embedded in the University’s planning, reporting, accountability and evaluation cycle. Deakin’s Strategic Plan, Taking Deakin University Forward contains seven goals that have been developed to focus the University’s activities on fulfilling its distinctive mission. Annual targets, enunciated in the University’s annual Operational Plans, are established to progressively advance the goals and to achieve continuous improvement. Continuous quality improvement is a cyclical process that involves having a plan that sets out the goals that we are seeking to achieve; determining a set of strategies to achieve the goals; measuring outcomes in terms of the targets established to achieve the goals in the plan; evaluating the outcomes; and reviewing, revising or re-planning to ensure that over the longer term the University’s goals are realised.

The CQI cycle requires a connection between the longer term goals of the University (contained in the Strategic Plan) and annual targets (contained in the Operational Plan) that over a period of time will culminate in the achievement of longer term goals. It also requires the existence of reliable measures of performance and the systematic collection of data and evaluation of outcomes against these measures. To be truly effective, the cycle must permeate all areas of University activity.

The new planning, resourcing, accountability and evaluation cycle described in the Strategic Plan satisfies these conditions. In particular, annual Performance Review, Evaluation and Planning (PREP) reports required of Faculties, Administrative Support Services, the Institute of Koorie Education, Learning Services, DeakinPrime and the Museum of Art will formalise the integration of effective planning and continuous improvement across the University. These reports are amalgamated into a PREP report for the University as a whole, with the resulting report presented annually to Council.

Deakin has a Continuous Quality Improvement Subcommittee to advise the Vice-Chancellor on the integration of continuous quality improvement processes within the University’s planning, reporting and evaluation cycle, and it has a role in identifying any gaps in quality assurance or quality improvement processes.