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Accreditation process and documents

What is Accreditation?

External quality assurance in Armenia is carried out through state accreditation. The accreditation process in Armenia is carried out by the National Centre for Professional Education Quality Assurance Foundation, authorized by the state.

The primary goal of state accreditation is to ensure educational institutions, students, parents, employers, and the interested public that the quality of professional education is recognized by the Government.

Accreditation is the recognition of the quality of academic programmes and educational institutions, which leads to building trust among the public and stakeholders on the quality of education services provided by the tertiary level institutions.

Accreditation is granted for a certain period, certifying that educational institutions or academic programmes have the necessary capacity to carry out quality education activities during the given period. Accreditation assures that the institution maintains the criteria that enable graduates to acquire the necessary qualifications to advance professional growth or to continue their education in other educational institutions.

External quality assurance of TLIs in the Republic of Armenia is carried out through:

Institutional accreditation
Accreditation of the academic programmes

Institutional accreditation. Institutional Accreditation is the state recognition of academic and QA procedures of the TLI, the requirements set forward towards academic programmes as ascribed to the TLI by the law, correspondence with state academic standards and institutional accreditation criteria. Institutional accreditation is a regular mandatory process both for private and public institutions operating in the territory of the RA. Institutional Accreditation allows to evaluate the effectiveness of TLI operations, as well as to find out whether the TLI is in compliance with its mission, whether it follows the policy of continuous improvement and enhances the development of implemented academic programmes.

Institutional accreditation is a prerequisite for Programme Accreditation.

Accreditation of the academic programme (Programme accreditation). It is the recognition of academic programmes and the correspondence of quality with state accreditation standards and programme accreditation criteria. Programme Accreditation is targeted at separate academic programmes. This procedure allows to periodically evaluate the effectiveness of academic programmes as well as to monitor whether it thoroughly ensures the acquisition of intended learning outcomes. The Programme Accreditation is carried out on the initiative of the TLI, based on a voluntary basis, except for medical academic programmes, the accreditation of which is compulsory.

As a result of the accreditation process, the educational institution or the academic programme is granted accreditation with a certain validity period.

There are three general phases in the accreditation process:

Self-evaluation-a process of self-evaluation of an institution or an academic programme, as a result of which a report is prepared based on the criteria set by the Government of the Republic of Armenia․
External Review-a process whereby an expert panel carries out desk review, which involves examining the self-evaluation report and all other important documents submitted by the institution. This is followed by a site visit, during which the expert panel members meet with institutional representatives in person: administrative and academic staff, students, graduates, employers and as an outcome, the panel prepares a written report, which includes evaluation of criteria recommendations on the areas to be improved.
Decision-making-process of fact reviewing decision-making and indication of areas in need of urgent solutions.

Why accreditation is important?

Accreditation:

ensures the quality of the education provided by the institution, as well as the compliance with the state and international requirements;
guarantees the applicants that the education they will receive in-demand and high quality education;
promotes international recognition of the institution;
provides external evaluation of the quality assurance processes of the institution;

Accreditation gives an opportunity to get recommendations from local and international experts on continuous quality enhancement processes.

How to Apply?

An educational institution seeking accreditation status can apply to ANQA or other quality assurance agencies that are either registered on the European Quality Assurance Register (EQAR henceforth) or are full members of ENQA. Institutions implementing academic programmes with non-EHEA countries or branches of foreign institutions can apply to recognized accreditation agencies, the list of which is approved by the RA Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport. Any institution that has applied to an international accreditation organization must notify ANQA of the start of the accreditation process within five calendar days.

ANQA accepts applications for accreditation throughout the whole year. Applications are submitted according to the format of the application form set up by ANQA and the Board of Trustees.

The procedure for accepting or rejecting an application is defined by the Statute on State Accreditation of Institutions and Their Academic Programmes in the Republic of Armenia.

Before submitting an application, the educational institution submits information to ANQA on institutional capacity or academic programmes by filling in the relevant electronic questionnaire at http://forms.anqa.am.

You can get acquainted with the principles of filling in the electronic questionnaire by downloading the guide.

The approximate cost of the HEI’s institutional accreditation process in AMD

Preparatory costs of the site visit	1 415 000
Costs of the organization and implementation of the site visit (for 4 days)	1 832 000
Costs of the experts’ report preparation	1 850 000
Organizational expenses (for universities located in Yerevan)	870 000
Other costs	1 000 000
VAT	1 393 400
Total	8 360 000

The approximate cost of the VET’s institutional accreditation process in AMD

Self-evaluation report’s primary assessment costs	560 000
Costs of the organization and implementation of the site visit (for 3 days)	291 000
Costs of the experts’ report preparation	519 000
Organizational expenses (for colleges located in Yerevan)	400 000
VAT	354 000
Total	2124000*
*The accreditation price is calculated for a 3-day site visit. The possible costs of recruiting an international expert have not included as well as the expense of experts’ business trip outside of Yerevan.