Course Accreditation

Academic courses that lead to a professional qualification are usually accredited against specified criteria and through prescribed processes, by a professional, statutory or regulatory body (PSRB). For professions (ie. Architecture) which are regulated by statute, only graduates of accredited or ‘prescribed’ courses will be able to practice in the professional area concerned.
 
Courses are re-accredited on a regular basis, typically every five or six years, although PSRBs may accredit for longer or shorter periods in line with their own priorities.

Usually this process involves a combination of course documentation and reports and formal visits to the University concerned.

Universities also work with industry to ensure their graduates are fit for the world of work, and with the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) as an independent reviewer and specifier of subject benchmarks. Universities also operate their own internal validation process for their courses.

From a professional body perspective: “An accredited course can be said to have been evaluated against agreed criteria set by professional institutions. These criteria are intended to assess whether a learning programme will produce graduates who can meet the educational standards for registration and which can provide a foundation for a professional career in the construction industry.”

Analysis of professional accreditation practices within the UK Construction sector and comparisons with practices in other countries and other professional areas has demonstrated that accreditation of higher education courses by professional bodies is largely consistent in approach, requirements, and management of this process.

A model reflecting this common approach is presented in Appendix D of the report. It can be noted that this accreditation model is a reflection of the general principles of Quality Assurance, and to a large degree can be seen to adopt the same role.

The Accreditation Process to view this model.

Evaluation criteria common to professional bodies, regulators, and higher education institutions are presented in Appendix F . of the full report

View the diagram which presents an illustration of the roles of the various stakeholder organisations in relation to the accreditation process and professional development.