Quality Assurance Framework

Quality Assurance Framework

Preamble

Objectives

Membership Criteria

Responsibilities of Alliance Members

Rights of Alliance Members

Limitations and Liabilities of Membership

Advisory Forum

Quality Criteria

Application Process

Preamble

The formation of the Alliance of Credential Evaluation Services of Canada (the Alliance) arose out of the recognition of the importance of developing a quality assurance framework for credential assessment services that would promote high quality and portable assessments across Canada.

Membership in the Alliance is voluntary and open to any private or public credential assessment service that meets the quality assurance standards specified in this document. Credential assessment services become members of the Alliance when they sign the declaration to abide by and follow this quality assurance framework. Membership is based on self-assessment and mutual trust.

The Alliance recognizes that education is the exclusive jurisdiction of the provinces and territories of Canada and that educational systems vary from one jurisdiction to another. In all cases, assessments provided by members of the Alliance are advisory and respect the autonomy of post-secondary institutions and professional regulatory bodies with regards to hiring, admission, membership, and certification decisions. The Alliance also acknowledges the importance of the portability of educational credentials from one jurisdiction to another, and has built within its own framework, mechanisms for inter-provincial recognition of credential assessments among member services.

On a global level, the formation of the Alliance in Canada is consistent with and serves to reinforce the international norms for good practice in the assessment of foreign credentials established in the Council of Europe/UNESCO Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education in the European Region.

The founders of the Alliance are the International Credential Evaluation Service (British Columbia), the International Qualifications Assessment Service (Alberta), the Service des équivalences d'études (Québec) and Canadian Information Centre for International Credentials (CICIC). Together these services with CICIC collaborated to define the quality assurance framework for the Alliance. CICIC provides a coordinating role within the Alliance and serves as an ex-officio member of the Alliance.

To ensure a wide forum of consultation, the Alliance links with representatives from the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Working Group on Access to Professions and Trades who are involved or interested in credential assessment. The main objectives of this forum are to provide suggestions and advice to the Alliance, to assist in promoting portability of assessments, and to facilitate information dissemination and exchange.

Objectives of the Quality Assurance Framework

The quality assurance framework offers effective mechanisms to establish quality criteria and standards among Alliance members. These mechanisms also prescribe consistent standards of good practice to the assessment of educational credentials. Consistent standards ensure similar assessments for similar cases. However, decisions may vary according to the territorial or provincial system of education.

The quality assurance framework is not intended as a monitoring process. Alliance members will not play an active monitoring role for other member services. Membership is voluntary and relies on a process based on self-reporting and mutual trust.

The primary beneficiaries of this quality assurance framework are individuals who require an assessment of their foreign educational credentials, and organizations that use credential assessments. The major objectives of the quality assurance framework are:

Assuring clients and organizations that use credential assessments (e.g., employers, professional regulatory bodies, immigration officers, and post-secondary institutions) that Alliance members follow quality criteria and standards.
Ensuring fair and equitable treatment of all clients of Alliance member services.
Improving the portability of credential assessments and facilitating the recognition of quality services across Canada.
Promoting the consistent application of fair and credible assessment standards across Canada.
Providing guidance in the establishment of new services in Canada.

Membership Criteria

Membership in the Alliance is open to any public or private credential evaluation service. In order for Alliance applicants to be admitted as members, all of the following requirements must be met and maintained at all times:

The applicant’s service must operate as part of a provincial or territorial authority, or be mandated by a provincial or territorial authority to provide foreign credential evaluation services.
The applicant’s service must serve a broad-based clientele, and not be limited to individuals applying for admission, membership, or certification with only one type of institution such as university, college, or membership organization.
The applicant’s service must provide multi-purposed assessments (i.e., for general employment), and cover a full range of countries of origin, disciplines, and levels of credentials (e.g., primary/secondary through doctorate levels, and academic or vocational/career programs).
The applicant’s service must have complied with the above criteria for at least one year and have performed a significant number of assessments (at least 250 during this time period).
The applicant’s service must demonstrate compliance with the all of the quality assurance criteria through the self-assessment survey process.

Note: The applicant’s service must have received a clear mandate for providing credential evaluation services to the population from a provincial ministry. This mandate should:

Originate from a competent authority in this ministry.
Specify the nature of the deliverable services.
Indicate the duration of the mandate.
Mention any limitation.
Specify any accountability or reporting mechanisms between the service and the ministry.

Responsibilities of Alliance Members

Members of the Alliance have the following responsibilities:

Assure the quality of their respective service and maintain standards of good practice.
Inform all members of the Alliance of any changes in circumstances that might prevent a service from complying with any membership criteria, and indicate how to remedy the situation.
Recommend, review, and implement policies, standards, and criteria related to the development and maintenance of a quality assurance process for the Alliance.
Develop, maintain, and disseminate the Alliance’s policies and procedures.
Promote and raise awareness of the Alliance with stakeholders and organizations within the member’s jurisdiction.
Participate in the activities and the annual general meeting of the Alliance.
Review Alliance membership applications from new services and provide guidance based on the requirements set out in the Alliance’s membership application process.

Rights of Alliance Members

Members of the Alliance are committed to developing effective communication strategies. This ensures that all potential users of credential assessments benefit from the quality assurance framework. Membership in the Alliance will signal to all prospective clients and organizations who use assessments that these member services conform to quality assurance criteria, and that their assessments will be accepted by other member services across Canada.

Members of the Alliance have the following exclusive rights:

Use of the Alliance name: Alliance of Credential Evaluation Services of Canada (the Alliance)/Alliance canadienne des services d’évaluation de diplômes (l’Alliance).
Inclusion in the Alliance Web site and Alliance promotional documents and brochures.
Use of the following Alliance Member Statement. This can be added to evaluation reports and promotional material of member services:

"XXX is a member of the Alliance of Credential Evaluation Services of Canada (the Alliance). The Alliance ensures that individuals have access to fair and credible credential assessment services. Members of the Alliance follow principles of good practice that are consistent with international standards. Further information on the Alliance can be obtained from the Web site (http://www.canalliance.org/) or by contacting individual members of the Alliance."

A member may withdraw its membership with the Alliance by submitting to the Alliance a notice of intent to withdraw. Their decision to withdraw becomes effective immediately, and the service must cease to use any reference to the Alliance.

Limitations and Liabilities of Membership

A service cannot transfer its Alliance membership to another service.

Members may not use any language that implies that this membership gives them any authorization, certification, licensure or other forms of legal recognition.

Neither the Alliance nor individual members are liable for other members of the Alliance. Each member is responsible for assuring the quality of its own assessment services and for applying standards of good practice as defined in this document.

Nothing in this Framework shall be construed as creating a partnership or as imposing upon any member any partnership duty, obligation, or liability to the other parties. Each member shall indemnify and hold harmless the other members, their employees, and their agents from any and all claims, demands, actions, and costs whatsoever that may arise out of, directly or indirectly, the indemnifying member’s performance or participation in this Alliance or that of the indemnifying member’s employees or agents. Such indemnification shall survive the dissolution of this Alliance.

Each member shall, at its own expense and without limiting its liabilities herein, be responsible for insuring its operations under a contract of Comprehensive General Liability, in an amount not less that $1,000,000 per occurrence (annual general aggregate, if any, not less than $2,000,000) insuring against bodily injury, personal injury, and property damage including loss of use thereof. Coverage shall include blanket contractual liability, and shall include employees as additional insureds. An appropriate self-insurance or self-assumption program is considered compliance with the insurance requirement. Written evidence of an appropriate self-insurance or self-assumption program at the required levels or above will be accepted in the place of a certified copy.

Advisory Forum

The Alliance recognizes the need for a wider mechanism for consultation, collaboration, and information exchange on issues related to foreign credential assessment. Therefore the Alliance relies on an advisory forum composed of representatives of the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Working Group on Access to Professions and Trades to discuss issues related specifically to the evaluation of foreign credentials. The objectives of this advisory forum include, but are not limited to:

Providing input and advice to the Alliance on issues and concerns related to credential assessment practice and policy.
Promoting fair and consistent approaches to credential evaluation.
Promoting portability of credential evaluations from one jurisdiction to another and encouraging wide recognition of assessments performed by members of the Alliance.
Fostering partnership and collaboration with national and international organizations and associations involved with foreign credential assessment.

In pursing these objectives, the Advisory Forum enhances inter-provincial and international mobility, facilitates access to trades and professions, and improves communication concerning practice and policy among provincial and territorial authorities.

Participation in the Advisory Forum is open to any representatives of the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Working Group on Access to Professions and Trades who are interested in credential assessment practice or policy. The Alliance will coordinate its consultation activities through the chairs of the Working Group.