The new 2008 version incorporates several improvements over the previous (1999-2000) version. Beginning November 2009, institutions submitting Systems Portfolios for review must use this version, but any institution submitting a Systems Portfolio on or after November 2008 may use this version.

Highlights of the improvements:

• The Organizational Overview questions and Context (C) items have been combined into an introduction and 9 Overview areas, one corresponding to each Category.
• Category 2 has been reworded to make clear that it refers to the description of key processes and their results other than instructional programs that serve the needs of an organization’s external constituents
• Category 7 has been reworked to make clear that it refers to “organizational knowledge management” — an institution’s overall processes for collecting, distributing, and maintaining data
• The previous Notes (and explanatory phrases embedded in the questions themselves) have been removed, and will be placed in an AQIP web-based Notes and Support for Systems Portfolios “wiki,” where they can be improved and expanded collaboratively and openly by the community of higher educators pioneering the use of quality improvement though AQIP participation.

To read more about the changes and revisions to the AQIP Categories click here. To see the new Categories and Items, click the AQIP Categories link on the left.

Since its beginnings, AQIP has worked to promote collaboration among the colleges and universities that participate, recognizing that one of the best values it can provide its members is the experience, knowledge, and innovative ideas of their colleagues across the 19-state North Central Association region. Laboring together in untangling problems and capitalizing on opportunities, higher education organizations are pleasantly surprised by the synergy that cooperative efforts can create at little or no cost.

AQIP was surprised and pleased to be the focus of a story in the August 2007 issue of Ingram’s, Kansas City’s Business Magazine. Titled "AQIP Redefines the American Academy," the three-page article explains in direct terms how AQIP works and what it means for the colleges and universities involved. It quotes Sister Diane Steele, president of the University of Saint Mary in Leavenworth, Kansas, and refers to the other 24 Kansas and Missouri institutions participating in the program. If you don’t subscribe to Ingram's, you can read the article online.

The Academic Quality Improvement Program stands ready to help AQIP colleges and universities gain the attention and recognition they deserve for their commitment to continuous quality improvement. If you know of publications that are likely to provide such coverage, or if we can help supply publications or participating institutions with story materials and background, don’t hesitate to call Steve Spangehl or Mary Green.

Lean is fashionable, both in manufacturing and service enterprises, and so more and more organizations are focusing on their value chains, making sure every activity they perform contributes to the value their stakeholders derive from their produces or services. AQIP has long focused attention on both the design of key institutional processes and the measurement of their performance as ways of improving value. But, in light of all this emphasis on cutting fat to get to the lean, it may be worthwhile to identify common ways to spot worthless work — work that adds no value to the services we produce. Here’s a beginning: ten signs that the work you're doing is without value. If more than two of these describe a particular task or activity in your organization, you ought to consider seriously the possibility that these efforts would be better invested in doing something else.