The accreditation process

Benefits of accreditation Accreditation and reaccreditation process Decision by BoC

Appeal procedure Annual Programme Report Accreditation Timeline

 

Accreditation and reaccreditation process

The ECBE Member can initiate a process of accreditation for study programmes in economics, business, management and related fields. 

Accreditation is based upon:

• self-evaluation of the ECBE Member institution and its programme(s);
• a review visit monitoring the institution and reviewing processes of the ECBE Member;
• a review visit report by ECBE;
• a consistent follow-up procedure (ECBE Annual Programme Report).

The accreditation of a programme normally involves stages 1, 2 and 3, while the re-accreditation comprises of steps 2 and 3.

Stage 1

The ECBE Member institution submits an application together with the initial documentation for accreditation to ECBE. Following a review, a decision to allow progression immediately, or later to stage 2 is then taken by the ECBE Director of Accreditation.

Stage 2

The relevant officers of the applicant organisation conduct a programme self-evaluation review, based upon the guidelines provided by ECBE and submit a Self-Evaluation Report, SER, to the Chairperson of reviewers.  At this point the Chairperson of reviewers decides when it is appropriate for the applicant institution to progress to the third and final stage.

Stage 3

An external review team, chaired by the Chairperson of the Review Team (CoRT), which is appointed by the Chairperson of Reviewers makes a site visit to the applicant ECBE Member institution and conducts a critical review of the self-evaluation. The CoRT is responsible for drawing up the review visit report with an assessment of compliance to each and every standard and overall compliance. Normally within 4 weeks of the end of the visit, the CoRT will send a draft report, requesting the applicant institution to identify factual errors within one week. The ECBE visiting team reviews the institution’s responses and agrees on the alterations, if any, which are to be made. The review visit final report is prepared by the team, CoRT sends a copy to the ECBE Chairperson of reviewers.

Should applicant still have comments on the final report, these may be submitted to the ECBE’s Board of Commissioners (or directly to the Chairperson of the Board of Commissioners).