After completion of the training workshop, the participants will be able to know: - Overview of Accreditation - The Value of Accreditation - Value of Academic Program Accreditation - The Council for Higher Education Accreditation Mission Statement - Benefits of Accreditation - Why accreditation? - The function of Accreditation and Quality Assurance - Conclusion

1. Prof. Dr. Md. Nazrul Islam
Former Director, IQAC, SAU
Functions of Accreditation Council

2. Overview of Accreditation
Educational accreditation should:
1. Provide evaluation and judgments of
institutions and programs.
2. Offer guidelines that influence decisions
regarding an educational program including:
specific student outcomes (knowledge, skills,
and abilities),the number of hours of a
particular subject area offered, and the types
of learning experiences students undertake.

3. The Value of Accreditation
Accreditation in the United States is a means to assure
and improve higher education quality, assisting
institutions and programs using a set of standards
developed by peers. An institution or program that has
successfully completed an accreditation review has in
place the needed instructional, student support and other
services to assist students to achieve their educational
goals. Accreditation has helped to provide the conditions
necessary for the United States to develop diverse,
flexible, robust and often admired higher education.

4. Value of Academic Program Accreditation
According to the Institute of Medicine (1995),
accreditation, if effective:
• Protects the public welfare by ensuring that
health professions graduates are appropriately
prepared to provide health care services.
• Ensures that their educational program meets
basic standards and facilitates the transfer of
credit between different programs.
• Guards public funds from use in support of
inferior programs.

5. The Council for Higher Education
Accreditation Mission Statement
The Council for Higher Education accreditation
will serve students and their families, colleges
and universities, sponsoring bodies,
governments and employers by promoting
academic quality through formal recognition of
higher education accrediting bodies and will
coordinate work to advance self-regulation
through accreditation.

7. Other benefits of Accreditation
Accountability and credibility
Leverage for funding
Visibility
Continuous improvement
Increased efficiency and effectiveness

8. Why accreditation?
 Interest of excellent HE institutions against low
level education and degrees.
 Increasing importance of quality and developing
systematic quality assurance system/culture.
 In higher education: to ensure and improve
quality of education and training in interest of
stake-holders (students, academic and non-
academic staffs, alumni, employers and
government).
 For (knowledge based) society: declaring
safeguarded and evaluated quality of
programmes or HEIs, informing the public.

9. Function of Accreditation and Quality
Assurance
“Key accreditation functions include: assuring
quality, access to federal funds, engendering
private sector confidence, and easing transfer” •
“Accreditation should focus more on student
learning outcomes and less on regulation. The
more regulatory focus the greater the
distraction from learning outcomes.”

10. Functions of Accreditation
The U. S. Department of Education, states that accreditation
programs are used to:
1. Verify that a program or institution meets established
standards.
2. Assist students in identifying acceptable institutions for study.
3. Identify programs for the investment of public and private
funds.
4. Establish criteria for professional certification and
licensure*
5. Create goals for self-improvement of weaker programs
and stimulate a general raising of standards among
educational institutions.
www.ed.gov/print/admins/finaid/acred/accreditation.html

11. Functions of the NCTE (Ghana)
The National Council for Tertiary Education Act spells
out the following functions for the NCTE:
1. To advise the Minister on the development of TEIs in
Ghana;
2. To enquire into the financial needs of the TEIs and
advice the Minister accordingly;
3. To recommend to the Minister for the purposes of the
preparation of the annual national education budget:
– block allocations of funds towards running costs, and
– grants towards capital expenditure of each institution
of tertiary education, indicating how the allocations are
to be disbursed;

12. 4. To recommend national standards and norms, including
standards and norms on staff, costs, accommodation and
time utilisation for the approval of the Minister, and to
monitor the implementation of any
approved national standards and norms by the
institutions;
5. To advise governing councils of TEIs on suitable
measures for generating additional funds for their
institutions;
6. To advise TEIs on the applications for and acceptance
of external assistance in accordance with government
policy;

13. 7. To advise the Minister generally on rates of
remuneration and other conditions of service of
staff of the institutions;
8. To publish information on tertiary education in
Ghana; and
9. To perform any other functions provided in this
Act; and such other functions relating to Tertiary
education as are incidental to the functions
specified in this Act.

14. The Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA)
is a private, non-profit national organization that
coordinates accreditation activity in the United States.
CHEA represents more than 3,000 colleges and
universities and 60 national, regional and specialized
accreditors.
The six actions resulting from the CHEA Initiative
provide a needed foundation for future work in
accreditation, especially preparation for reauthorization
of the Higher Education Act. The actions are to:
1. Restate and reframe the division of responsibilities
between government and accreditation.

15. 2. Streamline the federal recognition review of
accrediting organizations.
3. Explore creation and adoption of voluntary,
institutionally based performance indicators to inform
the public and students.
4. Initiate an Accreditation Advocacy Campaign.
5. Develop the CHEA International Quality Group.

16. The Tanzania Commission for Universities (TCU)
The TCU has its origins in the erstwhile Higher Education
Accreditation Council (HEAC) which was established in
1995.
Functions of the TCU
The Universities Act outlines the following ‘functions’ of
the Commission:
1. To advise the Minister on any aspect or matter of
University regarding the education;
2. To audit on a regular basis, the quality assurance
mechanisms of universities;

17. 3.To provide guidance and monitor – i. Criteria for
student admission to universities in the United Republic
ii. Proposals of outlines of academic programmes or
syllabi and general regulations of curriculum submitted
to the Commission by universities
iii. The long-term planning, staff development,
scholarship and physical development strategies and
programmes of universities, and
iv. Recurrent and development budgets for public
universities;

18. 4. To collect, examine, store in data-base or data-bank
and publish information relating to higher education,
research and consultancy;
5. To consider and make recommendations to the
Minister regarding the upgrading or downgrading of
the status of a university;
6. To establish transfer procedures for university students
who wish to be transferred from one university to
another and from one programme to another;
7. To levy fees or any other form of charge for specific
services, facilities and documents rendered or supplied
to institutions;
8. To monitor and regulate general management and
performance of universities;

19. 9.To oversee the provision by universities of essential
resources for the needs of their current academic
programmes and related functions;
10. To promote – i. the objectives of higher education,
in particular, the development, processing, storage and
dissemination of knowledge for the benefit of humanity
and the harnessing of knowledge for the production of
usable goods and services
ii. Quality assurance in higher education
iii. Noble ideals of national unity and identity in
universities
iv. Gender equality, balance and equity, and
v. cooperation and networking among universities
within and outside the United Republic;

20. 11.To consider applications from persons, companies, or
organizations seeking to establish universities or programmes
in the United Republic and make recommendations to the
Minister;
12. To set standards, accredit and register all universities;
13. To regulate and standardize –
i. Promotion criteria, designations and titles of academic
and senior administrative staff, and
. ii. Schemes with standard criteria for broadening of
opportunities for persons in disadvantaged groups to secure
sponsorship for higher education and to acquire requisite
academic criteria for admission to universities;
14. To standardize, recognize and equate degrees, diplomas
and certificates conferred or awarded by foreign institutions
and local institutions;

21. 15. To establish and maintain a qualifications
framework for universities;
16. To take part in establishing and maintaining a
national qualification framework for universities
17. To solicit for and distribute funds among
universities; and
18. To do all such other acts and things as are
provided for to be done by the Commission under this
Act or any other written law.

22. Some Important Functions of Accreditation
(Accreditation in the United States)
1. Assess the quality of academic programs at
institutions of higher education
2. Create a culture of continuous improvement of
academic quality at colleges and universities and
stimulate a general raising of standards among
educational institutions
3. Involve faculty and staff comprehensively in
institutional evaluation and planning
4. Establish criteria for professional certification
and licensure and for upgrading courses
offering such preparation

23. Primary Accrediting Activities(Accreditation in the
United States)
1. Standards: The accreditor, in collaboration with
educational institutions and/or programs, establishes
standards.
2. Self-study: The institution or program seeking
accreditation prepares an in-depth self-evaluation
report that measures its performance against the
standards established by the accreditor.

24. 1. On-site evaluation: A team of peers selected by the accreditor
reviews the institution or program on-site to determine first-
hand if the applicant meets the established standards.
2. Decision and publication: Upon being satisfied that the applicant
meets its standards, the accreditor grants accreditation or
reaccreditation status and lists the institution or program in an
official publication with other similarly accredited or reaccredited
institutions or programs. Only public and private non-profit
institutions can qualify to award federal student aid based on
reaccreditation.
5. Monitoring: The accreditor monitors each accredited institution
or program throughout the period of accreditation granted to
verify that it continues to meet the accreditor's standards.
6. Re-evaluation: The accreditor periodically re-evaluates each
institution or program that it lists to ascertain whether
continuation of its accredited or reaccredited status is warranted.

25. NAAC (1994)
The National Assessment and Accreditation Council is an
autonomous body established by the University Grand Commission
(UGC) of India to assess and accredit institutions of higher education
in the country.
FUNCTIONS
 Device and establish mechanism for periodic assessment and
accreditation of instructions of higher learning .
 Assess the quality of institutions of higher education that
volunteer for the process through an internationally accepted
methodology.
 Accredit instructions of higher learning, universities, colleges,
centers of excellence etc.. & specific academic programmes.
 Set rating parameter & criteria for certifying and grading higher
educational instructions and educational programmes.

26.  Develop an information database in higher
education to keep abreast with the latest
development in the area of higher education
particularly in the area of assessment and
accreditation.
 Recommend norms to be followed for quality
improvement in teaching and research in higher
education.

27. QAA Council of Sri Lanka
Proposed Activities of the QAA Council
 Evaluation of new Curricular and Courses, new Degree Programs,
including Distant Learning Programs, establishment of new
Departments, Faculties, Institutes, including Postgraduate
Institutes, Centres of Study, Schools in the Universities and
Private Sector Higher Educational Institutes. Also the staff
availability and infrastructure.
 Evaluation of Degree awarding status of Institutes and
upgrading into Postgraduate status.
 Quality Assurance of self-accreditation universities, their curricular
and courses of degrees, staff and infrastructure.
 Develop criteria and procedures for the recognition of new
universities (Public and Private).
 Inspectors.
 Establishing Internal QA Units in Universities/Private Institutes.

28.  Accreditation Higher Educational courses offered
by non-self-accrediting Institutes.
 Assessment of the quality of foreign degrees and
delivery arrangements and agreements on mutual
recognition of awards accredited by Foreign Quality
Assurance Agencies
 Report on, and making recommendations regarding
national quality assurance and accreditation
arrangements.
 Conduct Subject and Institutional Reviews in
Public and Private Higher Educational
Universities/Institutes
 Establishing Benchmark Statements for subject
disciplines.
 Training of Reviewers, Auditors and Accreditation

29. What? – to accredit
1. institutions as a whole, including all of their
programmes (combined or separate in time) -
national or international;
2. programmes (only) – national or international;
3. meta-accreditation → quality assurance by
accreditation of
- accrediting agencies or
- institutional QA systems.

30. 2. Accreditation of programmes
a) National examples
• to improve the quality of German higher
education,
• to ensure that cross-disciplinary and subject-
specific quality standards are maintained,
• to make German academic structures and degrees
internationally compatible,
• to make higher education more flexible,
• to promote the diversity, quality and transparency
of degree programmes.

31. CHEA: Council for Higher Education Accreditation →
United States
A national advocate and institutional voice for self-
regulation of academic quality through
accreditation, CHEA is an association of 3,000
degree-granting colleges and universities and
recognizes 60 institutional and programmatic
accrediting organizations.
+ Accreditation of non-United States institutions and
programs →

32. National Committee on Foreign Medical Education and
Accreditation (NCFMEA)
The Purpose of NCFMEA is to review the standards used
by foreign countries to accredit medical schools and
determine whether those standards are comparable to
standards used to accredit medical schools in the
United States.
The NCFMEA does not review or accredit individual
foreign medical schools. The NCFMEA only reviews the
standards that a foreign country uses to accredit its
medical schools. The request by a foreign country for
review by the NCFMEA is voluntary.
Hungary: 1997, 2003 and now 2008 (in progress) -
Hungarian Accreditation Committee (HAC)

33. INQAAHE (1991): International Network for Quality
Assurance Agencies in Higher Education.
The main purpose of the Network is to collect and
disseminate information on current and developing
theory and practice in the assessment, improve-
ment and maintenance of quality in higher
education.

34. Where?
The radius of accreditation activity:
• In the country – national
• In regions (USA, Russia, Arabic countries)
• In a continent – EU (ENQA, Register)
• International (on request, e.g. by CHEA, ASIIN,
EQUIS etc.)

35. Conclusion
Thank you for your attention … and don’t forget:
 quality assurance agencies contribute to the
quality of higher education through evaluation
and accreditation, but
 quality of/in higher education institutions is the
responsibility and task of the institution itself.
 Accreditation Council monitor the HEIs for
getting the national and international
accreditation to fulfill the demand of BNQF.