ABOUT Accreditation Service for School, College and Universities (ASSCU)
Welcome to the Accreditation Service for School, College and Universities!
ASSCU is an independent and professional Accrediting Agency of Higher Education registered under France law and recognized by relevant international networks / associations.
A global acceptance of the services provided with an accreditation is also subject to some questions, as to establish a confidence for the quality of the accreditation service itself.
ASSCU as an institution takes an integral part in the further development of the European Higher Education Area. ASSCU is committed to act according the „European Standards and Guidelines “, developed by ENQA and further stakeholders in higher education and approved by the ministers in charge of higher education in the EHEA first in 2005 and further (revised) in 2015.
The ASSCU conducts procedures for the accreditation of educational programs in all disciplines (program accreditation) as well as procedures for the accreditation of educational institutions. Our processes are based on both the European and American standards.
The goal of accreditation is to ensure that education provided by institutions and/or programs of higher education meets acceptable levels of quality. Accrediting agencies, which are private educational associations of regional or national scope, develop evaluation criteria and conduct peer evaluations to assess whether or not those criteria are met. Institutions and/or programs that request an agency’s evaluation and that meet an agency’s criteria are then “accredited” by that agency.
The purpose of the ASSCU is the promotion of quality assurance in education and professional training. The ASSCU has been established to accredit degree programs at universities, universities of applied sciences, colleges and professional schools (bachelor, master and doctoral study programs) and higher education institutions around the world.
With its international commitment, ASSCU offers external quality assurance procedures and consulting to HEIs abroad making use of our broad experiences in external quality assurance projects in various regions and countries.
Internationality is included in our work on the operational level as well: international members are frequently part of ASSCU’ commissions and expert panels.
Our Mission
Our missions are;
- to encourage higher education institutions in assuring and enhancing the quality of education they offer by sustaining high academic standards and good education traditions around the world.
- to foster engagement, accelerate innovation, and amplify impact in business education.
- to continuously improve engagement among business, faculty, institutions, and students so that business education is aligned with the needs of business practice.
- to continuously improve business education.
Our Goals
The following strategic goals have been adopted by ASSCU as it carries out its mission:
- Provide policy leadership
- Promote best practices
- Deliver professional development
- Create strategic partnerships
- Advocate for quality private higher education options for students
Our Values
- Transparency
- Quality
- Independence
- Collaboration
- Social Responsibility
Our structure
In order to guarantee independence, professionalism and a high level of quality of the internal procedures, ASSCU operates through various commissions and internal units with different tasks. This way, a clear division of tasks and power is guaranteed for all accreditation and review procedures.
ASSCU is a membership organization with mainly Universities and Universities of Applied Sciences as members. That is why ASSCU in the core of our philosophy serves Higher Education Institutions in carrying out external quality assurance procedures.
If your organization applies for a program or for an institutional accreditation, a specialized Accreditation Commission is in charge that:
- formally decides on the opening of a procedure and, if necessary, gives feedback to your self-evaluation report on completeness and comprehensibility,
- nominates the expert group that fits your procedure,
- takes a decision on the basis of the experts ‘report and your statement to the report on the accreditation.
Since the Accreditation Commissions include members from all types of HEIs and from various disciplines, the specificities of your program and/or your institution can be considered.
In case of a complaint or appeal, in a first step the respective Accreditation Commission deals with it in order to find a solution. If no consensus is reached, you have the possibility to raise your complaint or appeal to another specialized unit – the Complaint Commission. The Complaint Commission is mainly composed of independent members.
During the whole accreditation procedure, the ASSCU will support and offer information and support to the Higher Education Institution at all steps of an accreditation procedure. We offer free consultation concerning the accreditation procedure before starting a procedure. To give guidance during a procedure, ASSCU provides for example guidelines for preparing an application for program accreditation or for an institutional accreditation. The agencies also give continuous feedback during all steps of a procedure.
Our philosophy
We understand ourselves as an institution supported by higher education institutions and academic associations. We are devoted to quality assurance and quality development of both academic studies and teaching in higher education institutions. Our main task is the quality assessment of degree programs and of academic institutions.
Accreditation procedures advance the diversity of degree programs, assure quality and create transparency. Consequently, they contribute to their international comparability and recognition and provide future students with reliable information. Through accreditation procedures we assess academic quality and labour market orientation. This applies to a broad variety of degree programs and to different types of higher education institutions. Thus, we advance the further development of higher education and contribute to an improvement of quality.
ASSCU is one of the institutions involved in the creation of the European Higher Education Area and makes a contribution to the development of reliable and comparable systems of quality assurance in both national and international contexts.
Resulting from our Mission statement we believe that:
- The responsibility for the quality of a study program or an institution lies with the Higher Education Institution while we take responsibility for the quality of the external review process.
- An external review procedure enables the Higher Education Institution to demonstrate the fulfilment of defined standards, while it also contributes to the further development of quality.
