An Internal Quality Audit (IQA) is a planned, documented check that a department or office is actually doing what its procedures say it does. Where a programme review asks whether a programme is good, an audit asks whether the process was followed and whether there is evidence of it.
Scope
Audits cover both academic and administrative units — teaching departments, examinations, admissions, the library, laboratories, student affairs, procurement and the Directorate itself.
How an audit runs
- Audit plan — the Directorate issues an annual audit schedule covering all units on a defined cycle.
- Auditor assignment — trained internal auditors are assigned to units other than their own, to keep the audit independent.
- Opening meeting — scope, criteria and timing are agreed with the unit.
- Evidence gathering — records are examined and staff interviewed against the documented procedure.
- Findings — each finding is classified as a non-conformity, an observation or an opportunity for improvement.
- Corrective action — the unit performs a root cause analysis and commits to corrective action with a deadline.
- Verification and closure — the Directorate verifies that the action was effective before closing the finding.
- Management review — consolidated audit results are placed before the management review meeting.
Management review meetings
Audit results, survey findings, corrective action status, stakeholder feedback and progress against quality objectives are reviewed at both department level and University level. Management review is where quality findings turn into resourcing and policy decisions.