International Accreditation Agencies

THEQC recognises international accreditation agencies according to the criteria listed below:

• 1. Quality assurance activities
• The agency should maintain its quality assurance activities on a regular basis and with the participation of its stakeholders, and present its quality assurance activities on the basis of the following aspects:
  • The agency should explicitly define its program accreditation activities in line with its mission and objectives.
  • The agency should ensure the representation of its stakeholders in its processes and practices.
  • The agency should publish the documents used in the accreditation processes on its official website.
  • The agency should publicly announce its accreditation review results.
  • The agency should explicitly define its objection review processes.
• 2. Output-oriented approach
• The agency should prove that it adopts an output-oriented accreditation approach and present this approach on the basis of the following aspects:
  • The agency should adopt an output-oriented approach in its accreditation reviews.
  • The agency should review learning outcomes, monitoring of student success, assessment and evaluation approaches and opinions of graduates.
• 3. Thematic analysis
• The agency should periodically prepare and publish thematic analysis reports that comprise and analyze general findings of its accreditation reviews. The agency should present its general review reports that analyze the results of its program accreditation activities on the basis of the following aspect:
  • The agency should periodically analyze the outcomes of its accreditation activities in terms of general approaches, results and impacts and publicly announce its general review reports (thematic analysis reports) that comprise good practice examples and structural problems (legislation, system, human resources etc.).
• 4. Internal quality assurance
• The agency should have appropriate internal quality assurance processes in order to monitor, assess and ensure the outcomes of its activities and conduct continuous improvement works.
• The agency should present its appropriate internal quality assurance processes on the basis of the following aspects:
  • The agency should explicitly define its quality assurance system and publicly announce its quality policy on its official website.
  • The agency should ensure that all the personnel involved in its activities are competent and act in accordance with ethical rules.
  • The agency should have internal and external feedback mechanisms that aim continuous improvement within the agency.
• 5. External evaluation
• The agency should undergo external evaluation at least once every five years and present its involvement in external evaluation processes on the basis of the following aspect:
  • The agency should periodically undergo external evaluation for the review of its policy and activities.
  • The agencies that are affiliates/members of international quality assurance networks are deemed to meet this criterion provided that they are subject to external evaluation by these networks.