National Measures of Quality

Higher education faces unprecedented criticism as public officials demand data to prove that education is worth what it costs. Amid much discussion about how to standardize, measure, quantify, and compare the quality of educational programs, it becomes clear that although some exceptional qualities can be measured by statistics, much of it cannot.

We believe there is a meaningful way to assess the quality of colleges and universities to differentiate the exceptional from the rest. National Measures of Quality (NMQ) is a reliable, sensible model of assessment developed by the College of Mount Saint Vincent to allow any institution to evaluate educational outcomes.

NMQ includes both statistical and qualitative data—not only graduation statistics and retention rates, but also qualitative data such as student participation in extracurricular activities and student satisfaction. Together they demonstrate the exceptional quality and authentic value of a Mount education, both within and beyond the classroom.