Accreditation Standards Finalized

The IAO (International Accreditation Organization), one of the major initiatives of GESFWA, after extensive research, has developed accreditation standards for institutions providing education to working adults.

Accreditation is a type of quality assurance process under which an accrediting agency scrutinizes educational institutions’ services and quality according to their rules and standards. Educational institutes that comply with the standards set by the accreditation agencies receive accreditation status. Traditional educational accreditation assessment procedures and guidelines evolved from traditional established best practices for educational intuitions as a whole looking into factors such as the mission and aim of the institution, preparation and evaluation, organizational administration, scholarly programs, library and data services and fiscal resources.

Working adults’ educational needs and requirements are different from traditional student needs. Typically they require a more flexible, self-paced, advanced education to be pursued along with their jobs. In this case traditional standards seem obsolete where for instance there are no predefined timelines for class attendance in an online study program.  Such students growing requirements are further being met by new technologies and innovations in the education sector. Thus accreditation agencies need to be completely up-to-speed on both the particular requirements of the student body and the latest of technologies.

It was critically important to standardize the accreditation of working adults’ education institutions in order to equip working adults with quality education so that they move forward and progress in their careers, by setting new, suitable standards of assessment. A number of Government based organizations and NGOs have in the recent times addressed this particular need and we at GESFWA firmly believed and supported the idea of developing a whole new set of Accreditation Standards.

The comprehensive standards for educational accreditation as finalized by the IAO describe the fundamental elements that must exist in all educational institutions, while encouraging flexibility in the ways in which programs promote excellence for working adults. They permit the IAO accreditation system to assess a broad range of educational institutions, from traditional, to on-line, to professional and vocational and even secondary schools.

Furthermore, the IAO is committed to re-assess and re-develop its standards form time to time, in conjunction with new technology developments and students needs, to guarantee the robust standards are maintained for the welfare of students and educational institutes worldwide.