Pursuant to the Act on Quality Assurance in Science and Higher Education (OG 45/09) and the Ordinance on the Content of a Licence and Conditions for Issuing a Licence for Performing Higher Education Activity, Carrying out a Study Programme and Re-Accreditation of Higher Education Institutions (OG 24/2010), the Agency for Science and Higher Education carries out re-accreditation of higher education institutions.
All public and private higher education institutions (HEIs - universities and their constituents, polytechnics and colleges) financed from the national budget have to undergo a periodical re-accreditation every 5 years. The first re-accreditation cycle started in the 2010/2011 academic year and it should end in the 2015/2016 academic year. By the end of 2013, HEIs delivering study programmes in the fields of economics, technical and biotechnical sciences, and majority of private higher education institutions underwent re-accreditation. Re-accreditation of HEIs offering study programmes in social sciences and humanities is underway.
The re-accreditation is carried out by the Agency, either on official duty and according to the annual plan, or following a request from the Minister. It can also be carried out at the suggestion from HEI. The re-accreditation is carried out in accordance with the Procedure for Re-accreditation of Higher Education Institutions.
There are several stages in the re-accreditation process, namely:
- HEI considering re-accreditation should download the application form from the ASHE website (Guidelines for drafting self-evaluation reports of higher education institutions within universities/Guidelines for drafting self-evaluation reports of polytechnics and colleges), which should be completed and returned to ASHE,
- the re-accreditation visit of the expert panel to the HEI,
- writing the report of the re-accreditation process (by the expert panel), and the re-accreditation opinion (by the ASHE Accreditation Council),
- follow-up.
The goal of the re-accreditation is to determine whether the evaluated HEI meets the minimum criteria in the Ordinance on the Content of a Licence and Conditions for Issuing a Licence for Performing Higher Education Activity, Carrying out a Study Programme and Re-Accreditation of Higher Education Institutions. The report also contains a quality grade for the higher education institution, and recommendations for improvement, based on Criteria for the assessment of quality of higher education institutions within universities/Criteria for the assessment of quality of polytechnics and colleges.
The re-accreditation outcomes:
- issuing confirmation on compliance with conditions for continued activity or part of activity,
- denial of license for activity or part of activity,
- issuing a letter of expectation with the deadline for resolving deficiencies up to 3 years.
Procedure for re-accreditation of higher education institutions
