REGULATIONS FOR THE ACCREDITATION OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

2. Regulations for the accreditation of educational institutions.

• 2.1. Eligibility for accreditation.

An eligible institution must be any kind of organization, entity or company properly authorized to conduct higher educational teaching and certification, to award postsecondary degrees, certificates or other educational or professional credentials. The entities eligible for accreditation must prepare individuals to achieve competencies and attain the educational qualifications necessary to begin functioning in a specific occupation.

• 2.2. Application for Accreditation.

The EQAC has prepared an application for accreditation that will guide the applicant institutions in the preparation of the Self Study Report and the required documentary evidence. The EQAC will not start any accreditation process without the corresponding application. The self study report and additional documents may be presented in different languages subject to acceptance of the EQAC Secretary. When applying for accreditation, an educational institution should address all the EQAC standards, and provide evidence that each standard has been met. Where a standard is not applicable, a statement of why it is not applicable should be included. If a standard has not been met, a clear statement of the reasons should be given, and of how the provider intends to remedy this situation. Denial or unjustified delay to provide proper evidence or explanatory reports will stop the accreditation process. The EQAC must maintain the confidentiality of any documents and data submitted by the educational institution, as well as any information pertaining to the accreditation process.

• 2.3. Accreditation options.

The Commission has established three different ways to obtain the EQAC accreditation:

• 2.3.1. IAU members.

This option is restricted to members of the UNESCO International Association of Universities. The applicant institution must be listed in the IAU Handbook. Members of the IAU may be included in the EQAC Accreditation members list upon request of any of their academics.

• 2.3.2. EQAC Selection members.

The EQAC selection is a set of bodies whose certification or membership is considered similar or equivalent to EQAC accreditation. Member institutions from any of the EQAC selected bodies may automatically qualify for the EQAC accreditation. If the institution is no longer member, recognized or accredited by the EQAC Selection bodies, the institution will be required to go through a re-accreditation process.

• 2.3.3. EQAC Full Accreditation.

Any educational institution seeking accreditation by the EQAC must demonstrate through the application for accreditation and self assessment report (SSR) that it meets EQAC's standards. The accreditation process normally takes from one to three months, once the application for accreditation (self study report) has been properly submitted to the EQAC Secretary.

• 2.4. Assessment of the accreditation status.

The EQAC Secretary will distribute the application for accreditation and attached documents to an avail-able member of the commission for the assessment of how each standard is addressed by the applicant educational institution. The EQAC Secretary will communicate the results of the initial accreditation status to the other members of the Commission. The other members of the Commission have 12 days since the announcement to review and amend the conclusions and grades of the initial accreditation report. If deemed necessary, the commissioner may require an interview with the appointed representative of the applicant educational institution or arrange a site visit from a member of the commission. The president will review the final accreditation report and endorse the resulting status considering the following:

• 2.4.1. Respect for institutional autonomy.

The EQAC respects the educational institution autonomy, which may have its own methods or internal systems by which its academic and business performance can be assessed. These methods must be clearly explained whenever different from EQAC standards. The accreditation process will vary considerably from applicant to applicant, depending upon particular circumstances. Nevertheless, the EQAC has set out standards which any good quality educational institution should meet.

• 2.4.2. Thoughtful guidance.

The EQAC provides the applicant educational institution with a thoughtful guidance to assist the institution in finding its own approaches and solutions and meet the EQAC standards. The Commission makes a clear distinction between what is required for accreditation and what is recommended for improvement of the educational institution.

• 2.4.3. Cost-effective process.

The EQAC has the compromise to keep the accreditation process as efficient and cost-effective as possible by minimizing the use of interviews, site visits and reports, and by eliminating, whenever possible, duplication of effort between the EQAC accreditation and other review processes.

• 2.5. Final accreditation report.

The EQAC Secretary will inform the new applicant educational institution of the conclusions of the accreditation report. A detailed final accreditation report is sent to the applicant. Some standards represent best practice, and failure to meet them may not necessarily debar an applicant institution from accreditation but will highlight an area needing improvement. The commission will indicate whether failure to meet a specific standard will debar the applicant from accreditation. The evaluation of each standard is graded according to the following scale:

4 (Outstanding - No need for improvement)
3 (Standard - May improve)
2 (Acceptable but requires improvement)
1 (Insufficient - Not meeting the minimums)
0 (Failed to comply with this requirement)

• 2.6. Accreditation status.

The EQAC will communicate the results of the evaluation of the accreditation status only to the applicant. The EQAC Secretary will send the corresponding accreditation diploma if applicable. The resulting aver-age will determine the accreditation status:

Full accreditation (Final average ranging 3,0 - 4,0)
Requires re-accreditation review every five years.

Conditional accreditation (Final average ranging 2,0 - 2,9)
This is a one year long temporary status. The educational institution must undergo a new re-accreditation review within 12 months of conditional accreditation. If full accreditation is not achieved in this review, the accreditation status will be denied.

Denial of accreditation (Final average ranging 0,0 - 1,9)
The Commission will explain the reasons for the denial. The accreditation fee is not refundable in this situation. Any educational institution in this case may reapply for accreditation after a 12 months period.

The EQAC accreditation affects exclusively to the accredited educational institution and it is not transfer-able to any related third parties related. If an accredited educational institution interacts with a non-accredited third party, that interaction may include a statement of participation of the EQAC accredited educational institution, but it should not indicate or suggest that the interaction itself, or any other parties involves, is accredited.

• 2.7. Status Disagreement.

The Commission will notify the educational institution of the results of the evaluation of its application. If the educational institution did not meet any standard, the EQAC shall identify such standard and its concerns. The educational institution may disagree with the EQAC's notice of results. The institution has 30 days following this notice to address any errors in the application for accreditation (self-study report) or misunderstandings in the accreditation process. The institution may include any additional information that clarifies the concerns raised by the Commission. After this period of 30 days the EQAC's notice of results will be considered fully accepted by the educational institution.

• 2.8. Reaccreditation review.

For any reaccreditation review, the educational institution must submit a new complete application (self study report) to the EQAC Secretary, in any event, not more that five years since its last accreditation or reaccreditation, or one year in case of conditional accreditation. The educational institution must report any changes of significance in its operating circumstances to the EQAC. These changes might lead to a review of the accreditation process.

• 2.9. The EQAC improvement.

The accredited educational institution has the right to remark any suggestions that lead to the improvement of the EQAC standards, regulations, functioning and procedures from any point of view. Subject to the regulations of the commission, one member of an EQAC accredited institution may be presented to be a member in the Commission.

2.10. Withdrawal of Accreditation.
The EQAC may withdraw accreditation of an educational institution for sufficient cause, including a de-termination by EQAC that the educational institution no longer meets the requirements for accreditation. Institutions should also note that accreditation is contingent upon payment of current dues.


Sample of the accreditation status report

Sample of the accreditation diploma