Foreign Universtities and Accreditation

Does anyone know of a site that explains the accreditation of foreign universities? If not for transfer of hours, then legitimacy /recognition?
Thanks
Ed

 

Start here: http://www.degree.net/guides/accreditation.html

 

From Canada:

"The concept of accreditation
refers to a number of ideas,
among them the protection of
the consumer, the guarantee
of a standard of quality,
accountability to the
public, and improvement of
overall levels of service. A
widely used interpretation
of this term refers to the
generally voluntary process
of evaluation and assessment
of quality of an institution
or program of postsecondary
education. A program or
institution is thus
"accredited" if it
successfully passes through
that evaluation and
assessment, and achieves the
status of a "recognized"
program or institution. In
Canada there is no direct
system of accreditation of
institutions, only for
certain programs within
institutions. This survey
report will show, however,
that there are various
indirect methods of quality
assessment and "recognition"
of postsecondary
institutions in Canada.




A number of issues must be
kept at the forefront in any
discussion of accreditation
in the Canadian context: the
fundamental respect for the
autonomy of universities;
the primacy of the
legislative powers of the
provinces, including their
jurisdiction over all levels
of education; and the
importance of institutional
homogeneity or, put another
way, the desire for
consistently high quality
across institutions and the
reluctance to rank
institutions.


Generally speaking, and
within the terms of this
report, an "accredited" or
recognized institution is
one that: (1) has been given
degree-granting powers
through an act of provincial
legislation, or powers to
award certificates or
diplomas through provincial
legislation or regulation;
(2) receives public funding
or has a relationship with
an institution receiving
public funding; and (3) is
reviewed periodically by
provincial government
authorities or by an
assessment body appointed by
the provincial government.
In addition to these basic
requirements, there are many
other indicators that an
institution, or a program
within an institution, has
been subjected to a direct
or indirect accreditation or
quality monitoring process.


This is Canadian but the principles are pretty common within the Commonwealth:

1) There is no such concept as accreditation as is known in the US... accrediation in the US arose out of a lack of regulation... these countries regulate their universities, therefore "accreditation" is not required.

2) Universities are generally government authorized / chartered / licensed and publicly funded.

2) Of course accreditation, in the wider sense of generic quality control, does occur through various methods administered by local and/or federal governments

3) Quality control strives for a high level of quality and homogeneity... you don't have the "bad school" concerns.

Bottom line... make sure it is a public university and you are in good shape!