Nederlands-Vlaamse Accreditatieorganisatie (NVAO)
NVAO is the Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders.
NVAO was established by international treaty between the governments of The Netherlands and Flanders, the Flemish Community of Belgium. NVAO has been given the legal competence for quality assurance and accreditation of higher education in both countries.
NVAO is a full member of the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA). This full membership was renewed in 2007 based on an international external review by an expert panel.
| Links |
|---|
| Nederlands-Vlaamse Accreditatieorganisatie (NVAO) |
| The international external review of NVAO |
| European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) |
Responsibilities
The primary responsibilities of NVAO are:
- The recognition of new higher education institutions (shared responsibility)
- Initial accreditation (i.e. assessment of 'new' programmes)
- Accreditation (regards programmes with degrees that are already recognised)
- Publication of decisions (and the Higher Education Register)
- International cooperation
NVAO has been given the following additional assessment tasks:
- Assessment of associate degrees
- Administrative management evaluation of institutions
Focus of accreditation
NVAO accredits programmes. This means that an expert panel assesses wheter a programme is at the level it is supposed to be (e.g. Master's level) and if the programme achieves the intended learning outcomes in its specific subject.
The consequences of accreditation
If the accreditation decision is positive, the programme is accredited. This means that the programme is included in the relevant official register (i.e. the CROHO in the Netherlands or the Higher Education Register in Flanders). This registration means that the degree awarded by the programme is recognised by the national authorities.
Additionally, accredited programmes can receive public funding and the students enrolled in these programmes can receive student support (e.g. grants). However, public funding and student support are normally not available for programmes offered by private institutions.
If the accreditation decision is negative, the programme looses accreditation. This means the programme is deleted from the relevant official register and can no longer award recognised degrees.
Publication policy
For each procedure NVAO publishes an assessment report and an (initial) accreditation report, which includes a formal decision.
In addition, NVAO manages an online register of all the decisions. This register contains relevant data and downloadable versions of the assessment reports and the (initial) accreditation reports.
- Each assessment report contains the following information:
- Essential information regarding the procedure
- Necessary information regarding the programme
- Judgements on all the standards in the NVAO’s assessment framework
- Composition of the panel
- CV’s and statements of independence of panel members (in annexes)
- Information regarding the site visit(s) (in annexes)
- Documents and students' work reviewed by the expert panel (in annexes)
Each accreditation report and decision contains the following information:
- Essential information regarding the procedure
- NVAO’s appreciation of the judgements in the assessment report and their substantiation
- Relevant and legally required information regarding the programme
- The formal accreditation decision
Mutual recognition agreements
NVAO has mutual recognition agreements with:
- Austrian Accreditation Council (AAC), Austria
- Fachhochschulrat (FH Council), Austria
- Commision des Titres d'Ingénieurs (CTI), France
- Nasjonalt organ for kvalitet i utdanningen (NOKUT), Norway
- The Polish State Accreditation Committee (PKA), Poland
- Organ für Akkreditierung und Qualitätssicherung der Schweizerischen Hochschulen (OAQ), Switzerland
| Links |
|---|
| Nederlands-Vlaamse Accreditatieorganisatie (NVAO) |
| The international external review of NVAO |
| European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) |
