About INQAAHE
The International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE) was established in 1991 with only 8 members. Today the total membership exceeds 200 members. Higher education has dramatically changed over the last two decades. Distance education as well as vocational education have become increasingly more important as is the need for recognition of prior learning. Higher education has become more global than ever before. Professional accreditation has become more important as more higher education institutions, delivering programs in different modes, enter the market . All these have thrust the quality assurance agencies into ever expanding roles.
The Role of the Network
The main purpose of the Network is to collect and disseminate information on the current and developing theory and practice in the assessment, improvement and maintenance of quality in higher education. By means of this information-sharing and otherwise, it is intended that the Network should:
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promote good practices in the maintenance and improvement of quality in higher education;
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facilitate research into the practice of quality management in higher education and its effectiveness;
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be able to provide advice and expertise to assist the development of new quality assurance agencies; facilitate links between accrediting bodies especially insofar as they operate across national borders;
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assist members in determing the standards of institutions operating across national borders;
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permit better-informed international recognition of qualifications;
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be able to assist in the development and use of credit transfer schemes in order to enhance the mobility of students between institutions within and across national borders;
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and enable members to be alert to dubious accrediting practices and organisations.
