III - Approval

1. Approval begins with the Faculty Council.
2. Next, an external reviewers site visit is conducted.
3. The Department/School responds to the external reviewers report.
4. A Provost re-assessment will be conducted, if necessary.
5. The AQuE Office submits the new program for approval at SUC/SGRC.
6. The new program is then submitted at Senate for approval.
7. Finally, the new program is submitted to the Quality Council (QC)* and Ministry of Colleges and Universities (MCU)** for approval.

*The program is permitted to advertise the new program to students with a an approval disclaimer. See below.

**MCU approval can take upwards of 6 months.

After the New Program Proposal has been submitted to the Quality Council, the AQuE Office will notify the Department/School that they may begin to advertise the new program. However, any announcements or ads must contain the following statement:

"Prospective students are advised that offers of admission to a new program may be made only after the university's own quality assurance processes have been completed and the Ontario Universities Council on Quality Assurance (Quality Council) has approved the program."

In addition, the following text must be including when referring to applications for the new program:

Disclaimer Statement:

The University of Waterloo is now accepting applications for the proposed (enter program name here) degree program. Processing of these applications and admission of students will not occur until the program is approved by the Ontario Universities Council on Quality Assurance (Quality Council). The University will acknowledge and store applications, but will be unable to evaluate or act on them in any way until the program has been formally approved by the Quality Council. In the unlikely case that the program is not approved, the application fee will be refunded*.

Please contact (enter contact here) for more information.

 *Refunds are provided by the Department/School.

Disclaimer Statement for Type 2 GDips:

The University of Waterloo is now accepting applications for the proposed Graduate Diploma (GDip) in (enter program name here). Processing of these applications and admission of students will not occur until the program is approved by the Ontario Universities Council on Quality Assurance (Quality Council). The University will acknowledge and store applications but will be unable to evaluate or act on them in any way until the program has been formally approved by the Quality Council.

Please contact (enter contact here) for more information.