Accreditation is a review of the quality of universities, educational institutes, vocational institutions, colleges, schools, distance learning centers, lifelong learning centers, online courses, corporations, agencies, professionals, and instructors. All over the world, accreditation is a major way that students, families, government officials, and the press know that an institution or program provides quality education.
Accreditation may be either institutional or programmatic and is a voluntary, comprehensive, and objective process of outside peer review to determine whether an institution or program meets the standards of the accrediting body in institutional and/or educational quality and effectiveness. The AIITA provides institutional accreditation for its members.
Whether a college, school, university, distance learning center, or program is accredited is important:
Accreditation is a complicated subject. "Informing the Public About Accreditation" is an effort to reduce this complexity and provide the public with answers to these basic questions: What is Accredited? Why is Accreditation Important?
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 the hundreds of international accrediting organizations. Programs are accredited by one of approximately some programmatic accrediting organizations.
The Database of Institutions and Programs Accredited by AIITA contains information about thousands of institutions and programs around the world. Links to the websites of these institutions are also available.
When using the database; To learn about a specific school, college, university, or distance learning center, go to the Accredited Members Directory page and type in the name of the institution. To learn about an institution in a specific country, type in the name of the country.
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). AIITA 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? AIITA 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" dismisses 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.
Important Notice: Full / Online Accreditation does not contain institution's programs that have the curriculum. If you want to get an accreditation for your programs, you must apply for Program Accreditation for each program after applying for Full / Online Accreditation.
AIITA has worked throughout the years to establish itself as one of the most credible accreditation agencies in the world. With AIITA, hundreds of institutes have received accreditation based on the quality of education they are providing without any biases regarding location or financial standings. The Points Profile System along with the representatives present worldwide ensures credibility. The three-step process is as follows:
1. AIITA Accreditation isn't a Substitute of Legal Regulations: Accreditation is a voluntary, non-governmental peer review process. Accreditation by the AIITA shall be understood to convey only that the higher education institution meets the AIITA’s educational standards. Such recognition is not in any way intended to substitute legal authorization, recognition, or regulation, through compliance with local government laws. Legal authorization, recognition or regulation, and government accreditation occur in the context of different reviews.
2. Institutional Accreditation: The AIITA accredited institution is evaluated as a whole entity or in every specific program offered. Thus, the AIITA accreditation status is programmatic and it may be useful for the approval of specific programs (not for licensing of professions).
3. Global & International Scope: The AIITA accreditation focuses primarily on educational quality from a global and international perspective, not narrow interests, political action, or educational fashions. The AIITA is aware of the differences among countries that may arise in regards to fulfilling the quality standards set forth, so AIITA will examine each higher education institution expecting their institutional autonomy and following a non-discriminatory policy. Due to this global policy, the AIITA is not part of any country’s governmental agencies. Academic mobility and credit transferability of accredited institutions will always be subject to the receiving country or institution’s policy.
The AIITA accredited institutions are entitled to:
AIITA grants accreditation to educational institutes, vocational institutions, distance learning centers, online courses, and corporations, and certification to professionals, qualified individuals, instructors, and students. AIITA can't give any titles or degrees to the accredited institute's students, nor can it give authorization about the diploma, work, opening an office, etc. Additionally, AIITA does not control or oversee the documents, certificates, diplomas, titles, degrees, rights, and authorizations issued by the accredited institution. All rights and legal liabilities related to these matters belong to the institution conducting the transaction. AIITA periodically checks the educational quality of the institution and the up-to-dateness of the curriculum of the course/program and reports to the relevant institution.