Accreditation is a process of self-regulation and evaluation to ensure educational quality and continuous improvement. It involves an association establishing criteria that member schools and colleges must meet. As a result, accredited status provides certification that an educational program or institution meets certain quality standards above minimum requirements. The accreditation process in the Philippines is established through various laws and regulations, with accrediting agencies evaluating schools and programs based on factors like mission, curriculum, governance, and financial resources to grant accredited status at different levels. Accredited status provides benefits like deregulation and authority to revise programs without government approval.
2. WHAT IS ACCREDITATION?
⚫ Accreditation is a concept of self-regulation which focuses on
self-study and evaluation and on the continuing improvement
of educational quality. It is both a process and a result.
⚫ As a process, it is a form of peer review in which an association
of schools and colleges establishes sets of criteria and
procedures to encourage high maintenance of standards of
education among its affiliate members.
⚫ As a result, it is a form of certification granted by a recognized
and authorized accrediting agency to an educational program
or to an educational institution as possessing certain
standards of quality which are over and above those
prescribed as minimum requirements for government
recognition. Accreditation is based upon an analysis of the
merits of educational operations in the context of the
institution's philosophy and objectives.
3. Basic Principles of
Accreditation
⚫ Accreditation is based on accepted standards. Each school
seeking accreditation will be surveyed and evaluated in terms
of the appropriateness and adequacy of its philosophy and
objectives and in terms of the degree and competence with
which it achieves its goals.
⚫ Accreditation is concerned with the teacher-learner
relationship.
⚫ Accreditation provides opportunities for institutional growth
through self-study and evaluation and self-regulation.
⚫ Accreditation admits periodic review, criticism and
readjustment of its criteria, policies and procedures to
changes in education.
4. Characteristics of
Accreditation
⚫its prevailing sense of volunteerism;
⚫its emphasis on empowerment of people to
accomplish the business of the school/program in an
excellent manner;
⚫its strong tradition of self-regulation;
⚫its reliance on comprehensive evaluative
techniques,
⚫its primary concern and passion for quality
assurance and continuous improvement;
⚫its cultivation of a culture founded on organized
orderliness, and adherence to greater efficiency,
effectiveness and productivity.
5. Requirements for
Accreditation
⚫ To be accredited by an authorized accrediting agency, an
educational institution must demonstrate that it satisfies
the following requirements:
⚫ it has formally adopted an appropriate vision and mission;
⚫ it offers educational programs (or curricula) consistent with
its vision and mission;
⚫ it has a viable number of students actively pursuing courses
at the time of evaluation;
⚫ it has a charter or legitimate authority to award certificates,
diplomas or degrees to each person who has successfully
complied with the requirements of an educational program;
⚫ it has formally designated a chief executive officer or has
formally organized and staffed a chief executive office;
6. Requirements for
Accreditation
⚫ it has a duly constituted governing board
⚫ it has documented its funding base, financial resources and
plans for financial development, adequate to carry out its
stated purposes;
⚫ it has financial statements that are externally audited on a
regular schedule by a certified public accountant or agency;
⚫ it makes freely available to all interested persons accurate,
fair, and substantially complete description of its program,
activities and procedures; and
⚫ it has graduated at least three batches before the evaluation
for accredited status.
7. Legal Bases and History of Accreditation
in the Philippines
⚫ In 1970, the Presidential Commission to Survey Philippine Education (PCSPE)
submitted policy recommendations to improve and strengthen higher
education.
⚫ Among others, it recommended that schools be encouraged to join or organize
accrediting associations, and that a Federation of Accrediting Agencies (FAAP)
be established.
⚫ The Commission Report better known as the Integrated Reorganization Plan
(IRP), was approved by President Marcos in his PD 201 and subsequently
issued Presidential Decree 6-A, otherwise known as the Educational
Development Act of 1972, making accreditation one of the means of upgrading
standards of education in the Philippines and providing therein a program of
financial assistance.
⚫ Laws and regulations have been issued to articulate the government’s policy
on accreditation. BATAS PAMBANSA 232;R.A. 7722, Creating the Commission
on Higher Education (CHED): DepEd Order 32, s 2005; CHED Order 1, s 2005
and the 2008 Manual of Regulations for Private Higher Education and 2010
Manual of Regulations for Private Schools in Basic Education, have stipulated
voluntary accreditation as means of ensuring quality education.
⚫ Recently, DepEd Order No. 20 series of 2013 was released to provide
guidelines for the Philippine Accreditation System for Basic Education
(PASBE), an effort to promote the quality of education in public schools as
much as in the private schools
17. Other Certifying Agencies
⚫Accrediting Agency of Chartered Colleges and
Universities in the Philippines (AACCUP), Inc.
⚫Association of Local Colleges and Universities
Commission on Accreditation, Inc. (ALCUCOA)
⚫PAASCU and AACUP are members of the
International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies
in Higher Education (INQAAHE)
⚫AACUP AND ALCUCOA are members of the National
Network of Quality Assurance Agencies, Inc.
(NNQAA)
24. BENEFITS OF
ACCREDITATION
⚫Candidate Status
⚫No special benefits
⚫Level I/Level II: Accredited Status
⚫a. full administrative deregulation,
⚫b. financial deregulation in terms of setting of tuition
and other fees and charges
⚫c. authority to revise the curriculum without CHED
approval
⚫d. priority in the awards of grants/subsidies or funding
assistance from CHED/DEPED
25. BENEFITS OF
ACCREDITATION
⚫LEVEL III: Reaccredited Status
⚫a. all the benefits for level I/II
⚫b. authority to offer new courses allied to existing level
III courses without need for prior approval
⚫c. privilege to offer new graduate programs
⚫d. privilege to offer open learning/distance education
⚫e. privilege to offer extension classes and transnational
education
26. BENEFITS OF
ACCREDITATION
⚫LEVEL IV: Accredited Status
⚫a. all the benefits for level I,II and III
⚫b. Grant of full autonomy for the program for the
duration of its Level IV accredited status.
⚫c. Authority to offer new graduate programs allied to
existing Level IV courses, open learning/distance
education and extension classes without need for prior
approval by CHED provided that the concerned
CHEDRO is duly informed.
