THE ASIA PACIFIC ACCREDITATION AND CERTIFICATION COMMISSION

History

The implementing Agency for accreditation will be sheltered under the Colombo Plan Staff College for Technician Education (CPSC).  The College is envisioned to be an institution of excellence for technician education in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly South and Southeast Asia.

In both the Constitution of 1974, which located the CPSC in Singapore; and in 1987, which transferred it to the Philippines, the improvement of the quality of technician education and training was specifically identified as the primary purpose of the college.

In 2003, a program was adopted to have direct and profound effect in the quality of education when the CPSC Governing Board approved the CPSC Corporate Plan (2003-2008), including in particular, Goal and Strategy 1.2, "to facilitate capacity building to develop Accreditation and Certification system for the Asia Pacific Region TET.

Armed with this mandate, Prof. Dr. Man Gon Park, the Director-General of CPSC convened an International Conference on Accreditation and Certification in December 2004 to explore the possibility of setting up a regional body.  With participants representing 16 member governments from Afghanistan, Fiji, Korea, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines and Sri Lanka, signing the CPSC Seoul Declaration 2004, the Asia Pacific Accreditation and Certification Commission (APACC) was formed.

Functions

The CPSC Seoul Declaration 2004 established the regional accreditation and certification body now known as the Asia Pacific Accreditation and Certification Commission with CPSC as the lead organization.  In compliance with this mandate, the APACC shall perform the following functions:

to conduct accreditation and certify the corresponding accreditation status earned among technical education institutions in the Asia Pacific, giving priority to institutions in Colombo Plan member countries.

1. to develop standards, evaluation instruments, processes and protocols for the accreditation of technical education institutions;
   
   
2. to establish linkages or partnership with quality assurance agencies;
   
   
3. to recruit, train, and develop and retrain a pool of assessors on a full-time or on-call basis.
   
   
4. to directly provide, or seek other services to provide funds and other resources to carry out the program of accreditation and certification.
   
   
5. to be a source of "good practices" for the promotion of quality in technical and vocational training and education
   

Organizational Structure and Staffing

1. The APACC will be a new unit of the CPSC
   
   
2. It will be headed by a Director who will be directly under the supervision of the Director-General.

   Under the direction of the Director-General, he shall:

   • be responsible in directing the day-to-day activities of the Commission;

   • coordinate the visits of the Commission located in the different member countries;

   • plan and implement the program of accreditation and certification of the Commission;

   • be responsible in receiving and organizing the manpower, financial, material and technical resources of the Commission;

   •  perform other related functions necessary for the effective pursuit of the objectives of the Commission.
     
     

3. Initially, the Director will be assisted by two faculty members who are experts in accreditation, one researcher and one encoder-secretary.
   
   
4. Branch units will be established in the different member countries located in an office, preferably in the Ministry of Education of the country, that is engaged or wanting to be engaged in the quality assurance program in technical and vocational education.
   
   
5. These in-country units of APACC shall be headed by a National Coordinator on Accreditation.  His functions are:
   
   
   
   • to represent APACC in the concerned country;
     
     
   • to coordinate all APACC activities in the country;
     
     
   • to prepare plans for accreditation;
     
     
   • to assist in the implementation of the same; and
     
     
   • to submit reports to the APACC Director.

What is Accreditation

Accreditation is viewed as both a process and a result.  It is a process by which a technical and vocational training institution evaluates its educational activities, and seeks an independent judgment to confirm that it substantially achieves its objectives, and is generally equal in quality to comparable institutions.  As a result, it is a form of certification, or grant of formal status by a recognized and authorized accrediting agency to an educational institution as possessing certain standards of quality which are over and above those prescribed as minimum requirements by the government.

The TEVT Institution as the Unit of Assessment

There are a variety of accreditation models.  The most common are program and institutional accreditation.  An academic program refers to a group of related courses, packaged in a curriculum and leading to an educational degree, diploma or certificate.  In contrast, an institution refers to the school, college, university or center in its totality.  Operationally, APACC accreditation may cover autonomous and affiliate colleges, constituent colleges, departments, training centers, or the whole university/college which are engaged in offering technical and vocational training.

Characteristics of APACC Accreditation

Accreditation may be characterized in the following manner:

1. It is voluntary on the part of the TVET institution that may want to be accredited.
   
   
2. Assessment is done generally by peers, that is, by faculty or staff of technical education institutions, or of related offices, or from private industry.
   
   
3. It adopts the APACC accreditation standards which normally exceed established expectations (standards) of quality set by the education sector.
   
   
4. It is a partnership endeavor between the accrediting agency and the host institution
   
   
5. It is governed by openness and transparency
   
   
6. It is a form of non-governmental self-regulation as contrasted to compliance with government rules, regulations and codes.
   
   
7. Its immediate target is improvement; not excellence.  In practical terms, the latter is the product of a series of improvements.

Benefits of Accreditation

An accredited status awarded to an institution after conducting a rigorous assessment:

1. lends prestige to the school, justified by the possession of quality standards, and commitment to maintain these at a high level;
   
   
2. helps parents know which program they may send their children to for quality education;
   
   
3. makes possible for those wanting to access funds and all those who are to fund to know what to support, and how much is needed;
   
   
4. makes possible for an evaluated program to know its strengths and weaknesses, and in what aspects it needs to develop;
   
   
5. eases transferability of credits earned by a student among educational institutions.  Receiving institutions take note of whether or not the credits a student needs to transfer have been earned at an accredited institution; and
   
   
6. engenders employer confidence on the selection of employees coming from accredited institution.  Accreditation status of an institution is important to employers when evaluating credentials of job applicants, and when deciding to provide support for current employees seeking further education.