Skip to main content

Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP)

NC State is preparing for the 2024 SACSCOC reaffirmation of accreditation process, which includes the development of a five-year QEP.

What is a QEP?

A Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) is an integral component of the SACSCOC reaffirmation of accreditation process. It reflects and affirms a commitment to enhance overall institutional quality and effectiveness by focusing on an issue that NC State considers important to improving student learning outcomes and/or student success

Per SACSCOC requirements, a QEP has: 

  • a topic identified through an institution’s ongoing comprehensive planning and evaluation processes; 
  • broad-based support of institutional constituencies; focuses on improving specific student learning outcomes and/or student success; 
  • commits resources to initiate, implement and complete the QEP; and 
  • includes a plan to assess achievement.

Visit the SACSCOC and Accreditation FAQ page for more information about the development of NC State’s QEP.

NC State’s Next QEP – Packways: Learning by Doing

Packways: Learning by Doing was selected as the university’s 2024-29 Quality Enhancement Plan topic and announced to the NC State community in March 2023. This QEP, which focuses on high-impact experiences, is part of a universitywide project focused on enhancing student learning and student success.

Holly Hurlburt, associate dean of University College and a professor in the Department of History, has been appointed as interim director of the QEP. In this role, she will work closely with the Office of Assessment and Accreditation and other campus constituencies to draft the QEP by the January 2024 submission date.

Interview with Interim QEP Director Holly Hurlburt


Hurlburt explains how Packways: Learning by Doing will ensure the quality of an NC State education for all students. 

Students make their way through, and study in the Talley Student Union. Photo by Marc Hall

Packways: Learning by Doing Toolkit

The following resources have been gathered as part of the development of the Packways: Learning by Doing QEP.

High Impact Experiences/Practices/Experiential Learning

Data on NC State Student Engagement

The Practice of Reflection

NC State’s 2014-2019 QEP

Students in a lab class

NC State’s previous QEP, TH!NK, was implemented from 2014-2019. TH!NK defined six specific student learning outcomes to improve students’ higher-order skills in critical and creative thinking and self-reflection. In Phase I of TH!NK, 15 faculty engaged in professional learning to enhance their pedagogical practices for building first-year students’ critical and creative thinking skills. Phase II scaled up the effective pedagogical practices as determined by multiple assessment measures, including pre- and post- semester critical thinking assessments, Metacognitive Awareness Inventory and Epistemological Beliefs Survey, pre- and post-semester use of a faculty-designed classroom activity scored against a common rubric, and a post-semester faculty self-assessment.

The Reflective Educational Design (RED) TH!NK certificate program through the Office for Faculty Excellence is the continued institutional integration of this effort.

History, Outcomes and Impacts

Learn more about the TH!NK QEP by visiting the Office for Faculty Excellence website to explore videos, faculty scholarship, a five-year impact report and other historical content.