What Is Accredited?

Universities, educational institutes, vocational institutions, colleges, schools, distance learning centers, lifelong learning centers, online courses, corporations, agencies, professionals and instructors are accredited. Around the world, schools, colleges, universities and distance learning centers are accredited by one of hundreds international accrediting organizations. Programs are accredited by one of approximately some programmatic accrediting organizations.

Why is Accreditation Important?

Accreditation is important because it gives the assurance to the public, in particular to prospective students, that you, as an education provider, meet education quality standards in the global market.

Prospective students usually feel insecure accessing the international market when they need to measure the quality of a foreign education provider with the standards known to them (set forth by their own country). European Agency for Higher Education and Accreditation accreditation may provide a global education quality reference not limited or constrained by local regulations or idiosyncrasies.

The comprehensive compilation of institutions provided by the European ENIC-NARIC Network (National Academic Recognition Information Centers) and the UNESCO IAU (International Association of Universities) is usually limited to traditional universities recognized by their corresponding Ministry of Education. What happens then with many higher education initiatives and institutions that do not fit in this category? What happens with those who provide innovative pedagogical approaches, programs of study not yet recognized by the traditional education establishment, or simply those who are responding to the current global market demands? EAHEA accreditation becomes the best way to endorse them.

It is essential to recognize that in a global market, accreditation does take on many forms. The perception of government accreditation as the "gold standard" dismiss the growing and major impact that many international schools are having on the future of global higher education. The question is not who or what accredits the school, rather, it is - How much accreditation does the school need to have? What institutions of higher learning should be considering is not adding more local accreditations in their home nation, but a truly international accreditation standard that may serve in the global market arena.