The Quality Assurance office is also vital to the university system because it provides the platform for verifying or determining whether the University’s services meet or exceed the customer expectations, and whether the quality controls in place ensure that the University’s products (the students) exceed expectations upon convocation. Quality assurance is a process-driven approach with specific steps to help define and attain goals.

The Shewhart Cycle, developed by Dr. W. Edwards Deming is utilized to help attain these goals. There are four steps in this process and are abbreviated as PDCA.

The four steps that must be followed within this model are:

1. Plan: Establish objectives and processes required to deliver the desired results.
2. Do: Implement the process developed.
3. Check: Monitor and evaluate the implemented process by testing the results against the predetermined objectives
4. Act: Apply actions necessary for improvement if the results require changes.

These four steps help dictate the job description of the Quality Assurance Officer or Manager. The goal is to ensure that excellence is inherent in every component of the process.

Covenant University is a community of students, scholars and staff committed to bringing out the best in all its members. Our aim is to provide an environment for teaching, learning and research that stimulates innovation and produces outcomes comparable to the highest international standards. Our record of success in the short time since the University's birth in 2002 is very clear, but we aspire continually to surpass it – craving for continuous improvement as we work towards world standard.

These fundamental ideas inform the University's approach to quality assurance and improvement. We apply the same criteria of excellence to quality assurance as to all our other activities. We strive to learn from best practice and our benchmarks for quality assurance are those of the leading research universities around the world.

The University promotes a view of quality assurance as an integral part of the academic enterprise. Its quality assurance agenda has been driven from a central institutional Quality Unit.

Quality enhancement at the University of Sydney is furthered by the collection, analysis, reporting and action on student, staff, and stake holder’s feedback. Analysis of the data collected provides a comprehensive picture of trends in the student experience, and the performance of the Faculty in relation to Learning and Teaching Performance, and other related areas. In addition to this feedback, a lot of on the ground work – unexpected inspection - is done in order to collect primary data that will aid in the effective functioning of the Unit.

As the office evolves, each department should have a Quality Control personnel – the Heads of Department - that would report periodically to the central quality control office. These reports would include the progress, and the challenges of the department. These reports will compliment the information gotten from feedback and inspections, and help to ensure effectiveness in attending to issues.

The University’s Quality Assurance officer ensures quality is pursued at all levels of the University. Officer interprets and implements quality assurance standards; monitors unusual occurrences, reporting follow-up procedures periodically; reviews quality assurance standards, studies existing policies and procedures, and interviews personnel and students to evaluate effectiveness of quality assurance program; writes quality assurance policies and procedures.

More specifically, the Quality Assurance Officer is laden with the following responsibilities:

• Standing in as the link between the university and the students, as well as the university and the staff – ensuring that the real pulse is felt and issues are attended to appropriately
• Ensuring the enforcement of health and safety policies
• Ensuring the smooth administration of examinations
• Ensuring effectiveness of academic advising and course registration through feedback from students
• Following up on teaching performance and effectiveness
• Advising the management on how the system is performing in regards to quality, and suggesting improvements that could be made
• Ensuring proper use and maintenance of university facilities
• Attending to welfare matters (Cafeteria, Hostels, Health centre)
• Analysing the information from the committees (committee reports)
• Analysing student evaluation data and generating reports for both quality and management purposes
• Raising the profile of quality in the university by rewarding great performance, and ensuring penalties for poor performance
• Staff development - Organizing and ensuring continuous training of academic and non academic staff
• Ensuring continuous community development initiatives in the immediate university environment (Ota and its environs)
• Linking up with student leaders regularly to harvest challenges and create pathways for improvements
• Occasionally giving lectures to the Total Man Concept class (TMC)
• Representing the vice-chancellor’s office in specified committees and meetings
• Attending to other responsibilities that may be assigned from time to time