Using the AQIP Categories

The nine AQIP Categories provide a framework that colleges and universities can use to examine their key processes to make sure they are investing energy and resources in ways that will help achieve their goals.

Each AQIP Category deals with a related group of key processes and allows an institution to analyze, understand, and explore opportunities for improving these processes and the interrelationships among them. Through the analysis of processes, the Categories promote critical reflection that allow colleges and universities to share and learn from other institutions’ experience and insight.

AQIP expects each institution to use the Categories to structure its Systems Portfolio. Systems Portfolios consist of an Institutional Overview and sections on each of the nine AQIP Categories. The Institutional Overview presents a picture of the institution's key strengths, ambitions, distinctions, and advantages, as well as the challenges, competition and conflicts it faces.

Download and study AQIP's Principles and Categories for Improving Academic Quality, a 15-page document that provides specific, concrete questions explicating each of the Categories listed below.

Each of the Categories deals with a related group of processes, and allows an institution to analyze, understand, and explore opportunities for improving these processes. Thus each Category asks:

How does your institution approach these processes? How do you design and stabilize key processes? Have you evolved methods you use consistently to achieve the goals you want?

How broadly have you implemented your approach across different departments, operations, and locations?

How do you measure your processes and evaluate your results? What trends do you perceive? How do your results compare with the results of other approaches designed to achieve similar goals?

How do you use your performance results to improve your own approach? How does your institution learn to improve continuously from your experience with these processes?

How effectively do your processes and their results serve your students? and the needs of other stakeholders?

AQIP Category One: Helping Students Learn

HELPING STUDENTS LEARN focuses on the design, deployment, and effectiveness of teaching-learning processes that underlie your organization’s credit and non-credit programs and courses, and on the processes required to support them.

AQIP Category Two: Accomplishing Other Distinctive Objectives

ACCOMPLISHING OTHER DISTINCTIVE OBJECTIVES addresses the key processes (separate from your instructional programs and internal support services) through which you serve your external stakeholders — the processes that contribute to achieving your major objectives, fulfilling your mission, and distinguishing yours from other educational organizations.

AQIP Category Three: Understanding Students’ and Other Stakeholders’ Needs

UNDERSTANDING STUDENTS’ AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS’ NEEDS examines how your organization works actively to understand student and other stakeholder needs.

AQIP Category Four: Valuing People

VALUING PEOPLE explores your organization’s commitment to the development of your faculty, staff, and administrators.

AQIP Category Five: Leading and Communicating

LEADING AND COMMUNICATING addresses how your leadership and communication processes, structures, and networks guide your organization in setting directions, making decisions, seeking future opportunities, and communicating decisions and actions to your internal and external stakeholders.

AQIP Category Six: Supporting Institutional Operations

SUPPORTING ORGANIZATIONAL OPERATIONS addresses the organizational support processes that help to provide an environment in which learning can thrive.

AQIP Category Seven: Measuring Effectiveness

MEASURING EFFECTIVENESS examines how your organization collects, analyzes, distributes, and uses data, information, and knowledge to manage itself and to drive performance improvement.

AQIP Category Eight: Planning Continuous Improvement

PLANNING CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT examines your organization’s planning processes and how your strategies and action plans help you achieve your mission and vision.

AQIP Category Nine: Building Collaborative Relationships

BUILDING COLLABORATIVE RELATIONSHIPS examines your organization’s relationships – current and potential – to analyze how they contribute to the organization’s accomplishing its mission.