Imagine if your college did not have a process to resolve student grievances. Imagine you had no information on the programs’ curricula or such policies that influence your career. It could be a daunting prospect to invest so much time and money with no way of knowing whether you are getting the education you enroll for.
Accreditation is Important to the Following Groups
- Students: Accreditation provides assurance that your program is engaged in continuous review and improvement of its quality that it meets nationally endorsed standards in the profession, and that it is accountable for achieving what it sets out to do.
- Educators: Accreditation provides a formal process for ongoing evaluation and improvement of your program and faculty development outcomes, a process by which faculty, students and administration can work together in advancing the educational institution’s mission.
- Professionals: Accreditation provides a forum in which educators and professionals can exchange ideas on future needs of the profession and ways in which to address these needs in professional education and training.
- The public: Accreditation ensures public accountability of a program or an institution – that it has the means and demonstrates the outcomes for its educational process that are consistent with its goals and objectives.
The Benefits of Accreditation
- Quality assurance
Accreditation serves as a quality-control guide for students. They also will offer a certain level of supervision and sufficient physical resources, such as libraries, computers and office space. Moreover, accredited programs must outline all of their requirements and policies in their program handbook, so students get no surprises after they enroll.
- Licensure and employment
Because accredited programs give students that knowledge base, it prepares graduates very well for licensure. Accredited programs are more comprehensive and uniform in terms of what they cover—and they tie into the general requirements of most of the licensing boards.
Accreditation also comes into play when students begin their internships and post-graduation job hunts. Many companies prefer students from accredited programs. There is a reasonable expectation that you are going to have a better level of developed skills through an accredited program. Employers do not know all colleges and academic institutes. Accreditation provides an easy way for employers to tell if candidates have a qualification that has equipped them with the skills and knowledge required for the job. It is a very big advantage on the job market.
Many employers also look to see that employees have been educated at an appropriately accredited institution when making decisions about promotions and furthering their education.
- Quality education
Appropriate accreditation status indicates that a college, university, institution, or program meets the standards of quality set by the accreditation organisation, in terms of faculty, curriculum, administration, study material, lectures, libraries, financial well-being, and student services.
- Financial concerns
Accreditation means that the institute meets certain standards for offering education. This includes that the school is charging a fair price for its education, and that the course material covers certain basic essentials.
Most organisations that provide assistance, grants or bursaries rely on accreditation organisations to establish quality assurance of institutions they support.
- Ability to transfer credits easily
Accreditation makes it possible to transfer to a different college or university. It also comes into account when you want to continue and further your education at a later stage. Most colleges and universities will not accept transferred course credits from an institution that has not earned appropriate accreditation status from an accreditation organisation.