Accreditation is the condition of a higher education programme's legitimacy: only an accredited programme gives the student a state-recognised degree, and when accreditation is lost the law protects the student. This page is written precisely from the student's angle: why accreditation matters for me, how to read the programme's status, and what happens when the status changes.
What accreditation means for a programme
Under the law, the purpose of accreditation is, through determining the compliance of an educational programme with accreditation standards, to promote the raising of the quality of education, the establishment of systematic self-assessment and the development of quality-assurance mechanisms. The standards are in the law itself: the programme's aims, learning outcomes and correspondence to them; teaching methodology and organisation; students' achievements; provision of teaching resources; opportunities for developing quality. For the student this means accreditation is not a bureaucratic inspection but a guarantee of the conditions in which he or she studies.
How to read the programme's status
The decision is taken by the Accreditation Council — in accordance with the accreditation regulations, on the basis of the expert group's conclusion. The decision is of four types: on accreditation; on conditional accreditation; on refusal; on cancellation. The terms are also fixed: the validity of accreditation is 7 years, conditional accreditation no more than 4 years, and a conditional decision may not be taken twice in a row. Accreditation is granted where the programme fully or mostly satisfies the standards; a conditional one where it satisfies them partly. Within this frame the student reads the status of his or her programme precisely.
What happens when accreditation is lost
On refusal or cancellation, the institution is restricted in the right to enrol students, entrants and master's and doctoral candidates on that programme. For students a protection is written: a state-funded student may, for the period set by the Council, continue studies on the same programme and receive funding, or use the right of mobility and transfer to another accredited programme, carrying over the remaining funding. The student's status is suspended for 5 years — together with the right of mobility; an entrant and a master's candidate also retain mobility. On expiry of validity the student may continue until the end of the current semester.