The Accreditation Concept

With accreditation, study programmes are recognised for living up to a set of minimum standards for relevance and quality. The accreditation method involves a direct assessment of whether a study programme or an institution meets a number of predefined quality criteria. Accreditation is characterised by resulting in an authoritative approval/non-approval of a study programme.

Accreditation is, thus, an academic assessment process which is independent of political and other institutional interests. The accreditation system establishes a systematism in the external quality assurance of higher education - and is to supplement the internal quality assurance at the individual educational institutions.

Click here to read more about the accreditation system or download the leaflet Accreditation - why and how? (pdf).

In Denmark, the quality and relevance of a study programme are assessed on the basis of five predefined criteria:

1. Demand for the study programme in the labour market
2. The study programme is based on research and connected with an active research environment of high quality
3. Academic profile of the study programme and learning outcome targets
4. Structure and organisation of the study programme
5. Continuous internal quality assurance of the study programme

Danish accreditation involves both existing and new study programmes. New study programmes must be accredited before they may be set up.

Accreditation may result in three different decisions:

• Positive accreditation: The study programme is approved for up to six years.
• Conditional positive accreditation: The study programme is given one to two years to rectify shortcomings. New study programmes cannot receive conditional positive accreditation – only approval or refusal.
• Refusal: The study programme is closed. The minister must prepare a plan for how the students can complete their education.

Read more about the accreditation process here.

ACE Denmark sets up an accreditation panel to perform the academic assessment of the study programme. ACE Denmark has set up requirements governing the members' impartiality. The panel has no chairman and all members are equal. The university is allowed to comment on the academic assessment before the Accreditation Council makes its decision.

The composition of the panel
The accreditation panel consists of a student representative, an expert and an employer:

• The student representative is a student or a graduate from a similar study programme in Denmark.
• The expert is employed at a Swedish or Norwegian university and has knowledge of the research and the subject field behind the study programme.
• The employer has a special interest in graduates' qualifications and the needs of the labour market.

According to the Accreditation Act, the Accreditation Council is the specific unit which makes the decisions regarding accreditation of all higher education study programmes. Decisions are made on the basis of accreditation reports prepared by accreditation operators.

In Denmark, there are two accreditation operators that head the accreditation process and prepare the accreditation reports, which form the basis of the Accreditation Councils decisions.

• For university study programmes, ACE Denmark prepares the accreditation reports.
• For higher education study programmes (excluding university prgrammes), the Danish Evaluation Institute (EVA) prepares the accreditation reports.

The accreditation system is based on the Danish Act on the Accreditation Agency for Higher Education. To read more about the Act, use this link.

Danish higher education study programmes have been subjected to external quality assurance since the establishment of the Evaluation Centre in 1992. In the period 1992-1999, the Evaluation Centre evaluated the majority of the higher education study programmes.

For universities, there were no statutory requirements to follow up on these evaluations. Before the Evaluation Centre was set up, the presence of external examiners at exams was the only external quality assurance performed for the higher education study programmes.

QA since 2000
In 2000, the Evaluation Centre was replaced by EVA. Since 2004, EVA has accredited study programmes for the professional bachelor title, in addition to which EVA has undertaken accreditation of institutions wishing to use the University College designation for a period of time starting in 2005.

The accreditations were carried out according to a methodology based on the Evaluation Centre's model; however, the difference was that they resulted in a formal quality stamp, with which study programmes were recognised at professional bachelor level.

QA since 2007
With the 2007 Accreditation Act, accreditation became the key method for external quality assurance in Denmark within higher education.

Read more about the Accreditation Insitution and ACE Denmark.