ACCREDITATION AND QUALITY ASSURANCE (STATUS OF THE INSTITUTION)

SUMMARY

According to the Lisbon Recognition Convention a foreign qualification cannot be properly assessed without checking the status of the institution that awarded it. In the present chapter various hints are given on where to search for information and how to assess qualifications from systems with different quality assurance procedures.

FLOWCHART

• Introduction
• The importance of establishing institution/ programme status
• Terms used for describing programme/ institution status
• Recognition/ accreditation of an institution and recognition/ accreditation of a programme
• Recommendation
• Verification of institution/ programme status
• Reliance on quality assured by competent bodies
• Points to check when establishing status of an institution/ programme
• Need for further investigation in more specific cases
• Information tools
• Sources of information on institution/ programme status
• Need to use official, reliable, up-to-date sources
• Examples
• Accept (qualification of a private HEI obtained on completion of an accredited programme)
• Accept (recognized qualification from country with no accreditation system)
• Check programme accreditation if required
• Sources and references
• Organisations and networks
• Relevant articles RCP