These guidelines are mainly set to determine a course of action between colleges and the Office of Vice President of Academic Affairs (“VPAA”) in terms of the academic accreditation process: selecting any accreditation institution, renewing accreditation, and changing accreditation institution.
- In the selection phase of an accreditation institution for a college or a program, the accreditation institution must meet the following criteria:
- The institution should specialize in one or a selective number of disciplines, as opposed to being a general accreditation institution offering its accreditation to all disciplines.
- The accreditation institution should be a not-for-profit agency.
- The accreditation institution should provide international accreditation (to colleges or programs beyond its geographic scope).
- After initially selecting an accreditation institution, the “Accreditation Form” will be reviewed by the VPAA.
- The submission of the form is followed by a meeting with the VPAA to discuss the plan applying for the designated accreditation institution to receive the approval of the VPAA.
- All requirements to obtain an accreditation should be prepared by the College/Program.
- Details of the first meeting with the accreditation institution and invitation to attend such a meeting shall be extended to the VPAA office.
- The decision and the status of accreditation when the application is initially submitted or when it is renewed or withdrawn shall be sent to the VPAA office. A copy of the accreditation certificate and relevant documents are to be submitted to the VPAA office for archiving purposes.
- In case of changing the accreditation institution, steps from (1-6) mentioned in the guidelines above are to be followed.