What is Accreditation?
Accreditation is a quality assurance process that university or college or/and specific program undergo to confirm that they meet a set of services and operational standards to achieve quality of education.
In simple words, accreditation is a evaluation process that determines if an educational institute/program meets a defined standard of quality. While during this process, an institution or program undergoes an official appraisal process. Accreditation can be instructed by a government or can be voluntary. An accrediting body conducts the assessment and determines if an institution or program meets defined standards of quality. Since program syllabus and education standards are constantly being modernized, accreditation is not everlasting. Institutions must periodically reintroduce their accreditation status to ensure that the education quality is preserved.
There are two types of accreditations:
- Institutional accreditation and
- program accreditation
Institutional accreditation is an assurance that an institution as a whole meets a series of quality standards. During the process of institutional accreditation, the institutions are supposed to demonstrate that they are adhere to all good practices while giving quality education. For example, NAAC is doing institutional accreditation.
Departmental accreditation is an assurance that a particular program within the department as a whole meets a series of quality standards. During the process of departmental accreditation, the department is supposed to demonstrate that they are adhere to all good practices while giving quality education. For example, NBA is doing departmental accreditation.
Accredited programs and institutions undergo rigorous review before accreditation is granted and are evaluated regularly to ensure continued compliance with standards and policies that demonstrate the quality of the institutional or individual programs.