The Asia Pacific Accreditation and Certification Commission (APACC), with its commitment to provide quality services to its clientele, conducted the 3rd APACC International Accreditors’ Refresher Training from February 27 – 28, 2019. The program, co-organized by the Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT) and the Enhanced Skills for Sustainable and Rewarding Employment (ENSSURE) Project, was held at CTEVT, Sanothimi, Bhaktapur, Nepal.

Dr. Ramhari Lamichhane, APACC President (seated, 3rd from right) with the program participants and observers

A total of 11 high-ranking participants from Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, and Sri Lanka attended the program, which is the third refresher training using the instrument updated in 2018 to 2019.

Mr. Tek Bahadur Malla, CTEVT Director and Project Manager of ENSSURE, acted as the Local Coordinator and attended the training as one of the Certified Accreditors.

The said program aimed to train the APACC Accreditors on new instrument and additional processes; define the roles, responsibilities, and attributes of an APACC Accreditor, and ensure the same level of understanding among Accreditors on the APACC criteria, indicators and sub-indicators.

During the two-day training, the APACC President Dr. Ramhari Lamichhane presented the rationale and updates in the seven APACC criteria namely: (1) Governance and Management, (2) Teaching and Learning, (3) Human Resources, (4) Research and Development, (5) Image and Sustainability, (6) Other Resources, and (7) Support to Students. He also discussed the desirable characteristics of APACC Accreditors and Rules in the conduct of on-site visits.

Presentation of Dr. Ramhari Lamichhane

As with the first and second refresher training held in Manila, Philippines and Bhopal, India, respectively, the participants were tasked to prepare sample questions per criteria and performed mock audit to apply newly acquired knowledge.

The newly retrained Accreditors will be assigned in future APACC on-site visit activities, armed with the knowledge of current accreditation procedures and desirable conduct.