Position Summary
The Director, Program Quality and Assessment provides strategic leadership for the quality assurance framework of the Master of Physician Assistant Studies (MPAS) Program. Reporting to the Academic Director, the Director is responsible for leading program accreditation, continuous quality improvement, assessment strategy, and program evaluation activities to ensure the program meets institutional, provincial, and national standards.
The Director develops and oversees systems that evaluate educational quality, learner achievement, curriculum effectiveness, and program outcomes. Working collaboratively with faculty, staff, learners, clinical partners, and university leadership, the Director promotes a culture of evidence-informed decision-making and continuous improvement.
The position serves as the program's lead for accreditation and quality assurance and provides expert guidance in educational assessment, competency-based education, and program evaluation.
Primary Responsibilities
Accreditation Leadership
- Lead all accreditation activities for the MPAS Program.
- Coordinate preparation of accreditation reports, evidence repositories, and self-study documentation.
- Monitor compliance with EQual Canada accreditation standards and emerging national requirements.
- Develop processes to ensure ongoing accreditation readiness.
- Coordinate institutional responses to accreditation recommendations.
- Liaise with university quality assurance offices and accreditation bodies.
- Lead accreditation site visit planning and logistics.
Program Evaluation and Continuous Quality Improvement
- Develop and implement a comprehensive program evaluation framework.
- Design systems to monitor educational quality across all components of the curriculum.
- Collect, analyze and interpret quantitative and qualitative program data.
- Prepare annual quality reports and dashboards.
- Identify trends and recommend evidence-based improvements.
- Lead continuous quality improvement initiatives.
- Benchmark program outcomes against comparable Canadian PA programs.
Assessment Strategy and Oversight
- Lead development of the program-wide assessment strategy consistent with competency-based education.
- Ensure assessment practices demonstrate validity, reliability, fairness, and defensibility.
- Oversee assessment blueprints and mapping to CanMEDS-PA competencies and Entrustable Professional Activities.
- Support faculty in assessment design and standard setting.
- Monitor learner progression data and identify trends in learner performance.
- Provide leadership for assessment policies and procedures.
Curriculum Quality and Educational Effectiveness
- Collaborate with curriculum leadership to evaluate curricular effectiveness.
- Monitor alignment between learning outcomes, teaching activities, and assessments.
- Support curriculum review processes.
- Identify opportunities for innovation in assessment and educational delivery.
- Contribute to curriculum renewal initiatives.
Governance and Reporting
- Serve on MPAS governance committees.
- Prepare reports for College of Medicine leadership and university committees.
- Develop quality metrics and key performance indicators.
- Support strategic planning through educational analytics.
- Maintain documentation supporting program governance.
Faculty Development and Consultation
- Provide expertise in educational assessment and program evaluation.
- Develop faculty development initiatives related to assessment and competency-based education.
- Mentor faculty in best practices for learner assessment.
- Promote scholarship in medical education quality improvement.
Required Qualifications
- Master's degree in Education, Health Professions Education, Health Sciences, Evaluation, or related discipline. Doctoral degree considered an asset.
- Minimum nine years progressively responsible experience in higher education, health professions education, or program evaluation.
- Experience with accreditation processes.
- Experience in competency-based education.
- Knowledge of educational assessment principles.
- Experience with program evaluation methodologies.
- Excellent analytical and organizational skills.
- Strong written communication and report preparation abilities.
- Demonstrated project management experience.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience in physician assistant education or other health professions education.
- Familiarity with EQual Canada accreditation standards.
- Experience with educational analytics and dashboard development.
- Knowledge of CanMEDS competency frameworks.
- Experience supporting accreditation site visits.
- Experience with qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods.
Key Competencies
- Strategic leadership
- Systems thinking
- Continuous quality improvement
- Educational assessment expertise
- Accreditation management
- Data-informed decision-making
- Change management
- Collaboration and relationship building
- Policy development
- Project management
- Communication and influence
Expected Outcomes
The Director will:
- Maintain full accreditation compliance.
- Establish a sustainable continuous quality improvement framework.
- Produce annual program evaluation reports.
- Develop meaningful educational dashboards.
- Ensure defensible, high-quality assessment practices.
- Support data-informed curriculum renewal.
- Foster a culture of continuous improvement across the MPAS Program.
Department: College of Medicine
Status: Term with the possibility of extension or becoming permanent
Employment Group: ASPA
Full Time Equivalent (FTE): 1.0
Salary: The salary range, based on 1.0 FTE, is $87,266.00 - 145,353.00 per annum. The starting salary will be commensurate with education and experience.
Salary Family (if applicable): Specialist Professional
Salary Phase/Band: Phase 3
Posted Date: 7/28/2026
Closing Date: 8/3/2026 at 6:00 pm CST
Number of Openings: 1
Work Location: On Campus
The University of Saskatchewan aspires to be what the world needs and embraces equity, diversity and inclusion as foundational to excellence and innovation. We actively seek to create a welcoming environment where all individuals feel empowered to thrive, contribute, and grow. Applications from equity-deserving groups are encouraged as part of our ongoing efforts to reflect the diversity of the communities we serve: EDI Framework for Action.
We continue to grow our partnerships with Indigenous communities across the province, nationally, and internationally and value the unique perspective that Indigenous employees provide to strengthen these relationships. Verification of Indigenous Membership/Citizenship at the University of Saskatchewan is led and determined by the deybwewin | taapwaywin | tapwewin: Indigenous Truth policy and the Standing Committee in accordance with the processes developed to enact the policy. Successful candidates that assert Indigenous membership/citizenship will be asked to complete the verification process of Indigenous membership/citizenship with documentation.
The University of Saskatchewan provides an accessible and inclusive workplace. Should you require support through any stage of the recruitment process, please contact us for assistance.
