English version articles
How to obtain international and public accreditation
The National Centre for Public Accreditation conducts 3 types of accreditation of clusters of educational programmes:
- public accreditation (3-4 experts);
- international and public accreditation (5 experts including 2 foreign experts);
- joint accreditation together with a foreign accreditation agency (5-6 experts including experts from a foreign partner agency).
A cluster of educational programmes usually comprises of a maximum of 6 programmes which may be professionally evaluated by one review panel. The procedure of public accreditation lasts from 4 to 6 months. In case of a positive decision an educational institution obtains a certificate of public or international accreditation of educational programmes for a period of up to 6 years. In case of a joint accreditation an educational institution additionally obtains a certificate of accreditation from a foreign accreditation agency.
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Step 1 An offer to undergo public and international accreditation Educational programmes included in the Premier league, 1st or 2nd leagues of the National Aggregated Ranking by Subjects are offered to undergo public and international accreditation |
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Step 2 Application for accreditation
Receiving the regulatory and methodological materials in order to prepare an educational programme for public accreditation Agreeing the dates of the site-visit of an External Review Panel (within a week after receiving the application) Conducting a training webinar for the teaching staff responsible for accreditation (upon request) |
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Step 3 Preparation of the Self-evaluation Report by the HEI Submission of the regulatory and methodological materials for self-evaluation to an educational institution and writing a Self-evaluation Report on an educational programme Conducting self-evaluation for compliance with the standards of public accreditation and preparation of a Self-evaluation Report in Russian and English by a HEI (about 2 months) Submission of a Self-Evaluation Report to NCPA (no later than 35 days prior to the site visit of an External Review Panel) |
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Step 4 Preparation for the visit of the External Review Panel Formation of an External Review Panel involving representatives of academic and professional communities, student members and foreign experts Conducting a training webinar for the members of an External Review Panel |
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Step 5 External Review of the programmes of the HEI Site visit of an External Review Panel to an educational institution (3 days). The Panel consists of 2 foreign and one Russian expert, student member and representative of employers Preparation of a final review report by the members of a Review Panel, coordinating the report with an applicant organization (3 weeks) |
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Step 6 Preparation of the analytical materials for making the decision |
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Step 7 Making the decision on accreditation Consideration of the Summary of the educational programme at the meeting of the National Accreditation Board Making a decision on public accreditation of an educational programme (a cluster of programmes) |
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Follow-up procedure Issuance of the Certificate of public accreditation of an educational programme in case of positive decision of the National Accreditation Board for the period for up to 6 years Publication of the information on public accreditation in mass media, reference books and on the Internet in both Russian and English |
Reasons for Russian HEIs to choose NCPA
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The National Centre for Public Accreditation is the only accrediting body which is listed in both European Quality Assurance Register (EQAR) and Asia Pacific Quality Register (APQR) |
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National Centre for Public Accreditation actively works at an international level and has 22 cooperation agreements with Russian public and professional organizations, associations and unions and 31 foreign associations for quality assurance |
Agreements with foreign organizations and associations:
Cooperation Agreement with The Accreditation, Certification and Quality assurance Institute (ACQUIN)
Cooperation Agreement with the Evaluation Agency for Research and Higher Education (HCERES)
Cooperation Agreement with the Higher Education Quality Evaluation Centre (HEQEC)
Cooperation Agreement with the Agency for Science and Higher Education (ASHE)
Cooperation Agreement with the Estonian Higher Education Quality Agency (EKKA)
Cooperation Agreement with the Centre for Quality Assessment in Higher Education (SKVC)
Cooperation Agreement with the Agency for Development of Higher Education and Quality Assurance of Bosnia and Herzegovina (HEA B&H)
Cooperation Agreement with Accreditation Commission Czech Republic (ACCR)
Cooperation Agreement with the National Accreditation Centre of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan
Cooperation Agreement with Independent Agency for Accreditation and Rating (IAAR)
Cooperation Agreement with National Center for Professional Education Quality Assurance Foundation (ANQA)
Cooperation Agreement with Higher Education, Planning, Evaluation, Accreditation and Coordination Council (YODAK)
Cooperation Agreement with the Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ARACIS)
Cooperation Agreement with Shanghai Education Evaluation Institute (SEEI)
Cooperation Agreement with Higher Education Evaluation & Accreditation Council of Taiwan (HEEACT)
Cooperation Agreement with the Accrediting Agency of Chartered Colleges and Universities in the Philippines (AACCUP)
Cooperation Agreement with the Foundation for International Business Administration Accreditation (FIBAA)
Cooperation Agreement with Higher Education Evaluation Center Ministry of Education, China (HEEC)
Cooperation Agreement with the Slovenian Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (SQAA)
Cooperation Agreement with the EVALAG (evaluation agency Baden-Wurtemberg)
Cooperation Agreement with the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC)
Cooperation Agreement with Agency for accreditation of educational programs and organizations (AAOPO)
Cooperation Agreement with Music Quality Enhancement (MusiQuE)
Cooperation Agreement with National accreditation agency "Bilim-Standard"
Cooperation Agreement with Eurasian Сentre for Accreditation and Quality Assurance in Higher Education and Health care (ECAQA)
Cooperation Agreement with Social, Humanities and Basic Sciences Accreditation and Rating Association (STAR)
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NCPA is eligible to carry out public accreditation of professional educational programmes delivered by an educational institution. |
NCPA is included in: |
National Centre for Public Accreditation is authorized for conducting public accreditation by employers and their associations at federal and regional level:
Ministry of Public Health of the Republic of Bashkortostan
Department of Health of Primorsky Kray
Russian Union of Architects
Association of Music Education Institutions
Association of Forest Education
Regional Association of Employers "Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of the Arkhangelsk Region"
Free Economic Society of Russia
Central Institute of Continuous Education of the Society "Knowledge" of Russia
Russian Student Union
Interregional Association of the Heads of Enterprises
ANO of FPE "Siberian Agency for Qualifications Development"
International Public Association "Union of Designers"
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NCPA has a star awarding system and awards a quality label |
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A programme or a cluster of programmes are awarded Three Stars if they successfully passed public (national) accreditation. . |
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A programme or a cluster of programmes are awarded Four Stars if they successfully passed international public accreditation. |
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A programme or a cluster of programmes are awarded Five Stars if they successfully passed joint international public accreditation. |
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NCPA has protected intellectual property in the sphere of management and evaluation of higher education quality |
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NCPA have a great experience in public and international accreditation NCPA ranks 1st in the Ranking of accreditation agencies that work in the Russian Federation |
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NCPA has qualified staff for effective and efficient organization and carrying out the procedures of external quality assurance |
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Advantages and benefits of public accreditation by NCPA |
- Increased admission quotas
- Accredited programmes are included in the Database of External Quality Assurance Reports – DEQAR.
- Increased admission of foreign students from Europe and Asia.
- Independent and objective evaluation of the quality of educational programmes delivery and the level of graduates’ training, including evaluation by foreign experts.
- Obtaining specific recommendations to enhance quality of educational programmes' delivery and training of students.
International and public accreditation
International accreditation
International accreditation is a process of evaluation and recognition of higher education programmes (or educational institutions) against criteria and requirements of international, foreign or Russian organizations1, which are members of international associations2. The term «international accreditation» is used in the indicators of the National project «Education», the priority project of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation «Development of Export Capacity of the Russian Educational System», and the Programme for Strategic Academic Leadership of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, which is currently being developed and discussed; the term is also used in the development programmes of the federal universities in order to enhance cooperation and international recognition of the quality of educational programmes delivered by Russian HEIs. One of the priorities of the project «Development of Export Capacity of the Russian Educational System» is enhancing attractiveness and competitiveness of Russian education on the international market of educational services. International accreditation of Russian educational programmes is defined as a mechanism of such recognition
International accreditation is carried out against international standards and requirements approved by an international organization (association) and delivered by an agency officially recognized by such international organization, irrespective of whether the agency is national or foreign. For countries – members of the Bologna process (including Russia) international standards and guidelines for accreditation were approved by the Ministerial Conference in 2005 and were documented in the «Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area» (ESG)3, which was developed by the following international associations:
European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA)
European Students’ Union (ESU)
European University Association (EUA)
European Association of Institutions in Higher Education (EURASHE)
in cooperation with:
Education International (EI)
BUSINESSEUROPE
European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR)
«ESG are designed to be applicable to all higher education institutions and quality assurance agencies in Europe, irrespective of their structure, function and size, and the national system in which they are located…Rather the ESG recognize the primacy of national systems of higher education, the importance of institutional and agency autonomy within those national systems…»4. The guidelines for international accreditation require that the external review panels should include representatives of academic, student and professional communities, as well as foreign experts.
International accreditation can be carried out by accreditation agencies which are full members of the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) and registered in the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR.
Russian higher education institutions which have international accreditation by an agency recognized by ENQA and registered in EQAR have the right to enter accredited programmes and HEIs to the Database of External Quality Assurance Results (DEQAR)5.
Inclusion of programmes and HEIs in DEQAR confirms their compliance with the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG-2015) and is a basis for recognition of accredited programmes and HEIs in the EHEA.
Joint accreditation
Joint accreditation is one of the forms of international accreditation and is jointly held by a national and a foreign accreditation agency. Such accreditation provides for a unified and agreed accreditation procedure for educational programmes carried out by two accreditation agencies against the European standards and guidelines (ESG). The review is held by one review panel, which comprises experts nominated by partner agencies. The accreditation decision is made independently by the Boards of the partner agencies on the basis of a self-evaluation report and a unified report on external review. In the event of a positive decision, a higher education institution receives two certificates on accreditation of the educational programmes.
Accreditation of joint educational programmes delivered by two higher education institutions from different countries is regulated by the «European Approach for Quality Assurance of Joint Programmes6» approved at the Ministerial Conference 2015 in Yerevan (Armenia).
Public accreditation
Public accreditation is evaluation and recognition of the quality of educational programmes against the requirements of educational and professional standards (if available) and the requirements of the labour market. Public accreditation is carried out by accreditation agencies included in the list of organizations carrying out such accreditation. The list of organizations is compiled in accordance with the requirements of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation in compliance with the Order of the Government of 17.04.2017 № 431.
The basis for public accreditation is delivery of educational programmes by a higher educational institution, which are developed and delivered with the account of professional standards. The external review panel involves a representative of the professional community, federal or regional subject-specific ministry (institution), major employer or association of employers.
1 Federal Law "On Education in the Russian Federation", Article 92, Clause 1.2.
2 Federal state educational standards, section 4.6.4.
3 The Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG-2015)
4 The European Higher Education Area in 2015: Implementation Report
5 Database of External Quality Assurance Results (Russia)
6 European Approach for Quality Assurance of Joint Programmes
Why do we need professional-public accreditation
Accreditation as a form of recognition of educational activity exists in almost all the developed countries, and in most of them accreditation is the involvement of the independent structures into the quality management of education.
The notion of public accreditation appeared in the Russian legislation in 1992.
The Law of the Russian Federation "On Education" No. 266-1 dated 10.07.1992 (repealed)
The Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated 26 May 2009 No. 599
"On measures to improve higher legal education in the Russian Federation"
The Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated 7 May 2012 No. 599
"On measures to implement state policy in the field of education and research"
State Programme of the Russian Federation "Development of Education" for 2013-2020 (app. by the Resolution of the Government of the RF dated 15 May 2013 No. 792-р)
The Conception of the Federal Targeted Programme of the Development of Education for 2016 - 2020
(APPROVED by the Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation dated by 29 December 2014 No. 2765-р)
"...In the framework of the formation of demanded system for the evaluation of the quality of education and learning outcomes the following activities will be implemented: development of the system of quality evaluation in secondary vocational and higher professional education through the support of independent accreditation and evaluation of the quality of educational programmes ..."
"The activity for the development of quality evaluation system in secondary vocational and higher education through the support of independent accreditation and evaluation of the quality of educational programmes implies assurance of the implementation of the mechanisms for professional-public accreditation of the educational programmes for all interrelated specialty groups (areas)..."
The Federal Law of the Russian Federation dated 29 December 2012 N 273-ФЗ
"On Education in the Russian Federation"
Article 89. Governance of the System of Education
"… 2. Governance of the system of education involves the following:
7) independent evaluation of the quality of education, public and public-professional accreditation..."
Article 96. Public accreditation of institutions which implement educational activity. Professional-public accreditation of educational programmes
"… 3. Employers, their associations as well as organizations authorised by them, are entitled to conduct professional-public accreditation of professional educational programmes which are delivered by an orgnanization, implementing educational activity"
"… 8. Information on public or professional-public accreditation, acquired by an educational institution, is submitted to an accreditation body and is taken into consideration when conducting state accreditation"
The Decree of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation "On amendments to the Order of the competition on distribution of admission quotas for citizens by professions, specialties and areas of training for the education in study programmes of secondary vocational and higher education, which are granted state accreditation, at the expense of federal budget allocations, approved by the Order of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation dated 15 July 2013 No. 560"
Project of the Order of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation "On the approval of the Order of the competition for distribution of admission quotas by professions, specialties, areas of training and (or) interrelated groups of professions, specialties or areas of training for education in study programmes of secondary vocational and higher education at the expense of federal budget allocations"