Ministry of Education: New Licensure and Accreditation
Standards for UAE Higher Education Institutions as of September 2019
· H.E. Al Falasi: We are confident that the coming years will
see more UAE universities join the ranks of the world’s top 100 universities.
· H.E. Al Mualla: The new standards embrace quality-based
accreditation and licensing procedures, where “high-quality” institutions will
be rewarded.
The
Ministry of Education has unveiled a new set of standards to be used for licensing
higher education institutions in the UAE and accrediting their academic
programmes, scheduled to go into effect as of September 2019.
The
launch forms part of the UAE’s National Strategy for Higher Education and
serves to achieve the country’s ambitions for enhancing the quality and global
reputation of its local higher education sector.
The
new accreditation standards cover 11 academic and administrative aspects of
higher education institutions, namely: governance and administration; quality
assurance; scientific and research activities; students; faculty; educational
facilities; health, safety, and environment; legal compliance and public
disclosure; educational resources; financial capacity and sustainability; and community
service and integrity.
The
new standards have been developed to cover the licensing and accreditation of
all types of higher education institutions, including government universities
(federal and local), private universities, specialised universities (eg police
and army), branches of international universities, and free zone universities.
His
Excellency Dr Ahmad bin Abdullah Humaid Belhoul Al Falasi, Minister of State
for Higher Education and Advanced Skills, said: “This new set of standards we
are launching follows the directives of our wise leadership to develop the
higher education system, upgrade our academic institutions, and promote
scientific courses as a means to meet the requirements of the Fourth Industrial
Revolution, all while achieving the UAE’s strategic objectives and empowering a
generation of qualified professionals to come up with solutions to local
challenges in all sectors.”
“Students
are our true wealth,” H.E. Al Falasi added; “they are the motivation behind all
of our efforts. With the new standards, we look forward to creating a positive
environment at higher education institutions, where graduates leave with
in-depth knowledge, having developed the necessary advanced skills to meet the
requirements of the future. We are confident that the coming years will see more
UAE universities join the ranks of the world’s top 100 universities, further
enhancing the reputation of Emirati education and the opportunities it affords
to students in the region and the world.”
Meanwhile,
H.E. Dr Mohammed Ebrahim Al-Mualla, Undersecretary for Academic Affairs of Higher Education, said: “The newly
launched accreditation standards serve to ensure the quality of higher
education and raise awareness among both students and parents about the
importance of pursuing higher education at institutions accredited by the
Ministry of Education. Furthermore, they add value to qualifications obtained
from UAE institutions both locally and abroad, which, in turn, boosts students’
and their parents’ confidence in these institutions and enriches the
educational system across the country.”
“What
truly sets the new criteria apart is the fact that they embrace quality-based accreditation
and licensing procedures, where higher education institutions are classified
into several levels according to quality, and “high-quality” institutions will be
rewarded.”
H.E.
Al-Mualla urged students and parents to make sure they enrol exclusively in Ministry
licensed institutions and their accredited programmes.
For
his part, Dr Mohamed Yousif Baniyas, Director of the Commission for Academic
Accreditation of the Ministry of Education, said: “The new standards seek to
facilitate the licensure and accreditation procedures applied to higher
education institutions without compromising the quality of education.”
Dr
Baniyas called on higher education institutions to cooperate and ensure that their
applications for licensure and accreditation contain the necessary information
to avoid delays in procedures, and to respond in a timely manner to comments
and requirements of the external review teams assigned by the Ministry, in
order to allow the Commission to issue licensure and accreditation certificates
quickly and seamlessly.
Seamless Licensing and Accreditation Procedures
The
new accreditation standards allow the Ministry of Education to facilitate the licensure
and accreditation procedures applied to higher education institutions without
compromising the quality of education. Higher education institutions are now
required to, electronically, submit a brief “self-assessment report” outlining
their strategy, quality assurance principles, syllabi, faculty members,
educational resources, facilities, and laboratories. The Ministry is currently
working on launching an electronic platform in order to remain up to date on
technological developments, and promote a paperless approach to licensing
higher education institutions and accrediting their programmes.
Quality-Based Evaluation
The
new standards are rooted in a quality-based evaluation, which considers the
national and international ranking of an institution, its reputation, academic
history, international accreditations it has secured for its programmes, and
its compliance with the Ministry of Education’s standards, decisions, and requirements.
Institutions are then classified along several levels.
The
standards were designed to be applied flexibly, where “high-quality”
institutions will have many advantages, most notably, a seven-year interval
between reviews for licensing and accreditation; the opportunity to have multiple
programmes reviewed at once; smaller evaluation teams to visit the institution
during a review; shorter evaluation visits; and priority in introducing new
programmes, which cuts licensing and accreditation costs by more than 50%.
Meanwhile,
the criteria will be implemented differently at “lower-quality” institutions,
which will be subject to reviews every three years, with longer visits from
larger external review teams, as well as more regular and extensive inspections
from the Inspection Department at the Ministry. In addition, a more stringent
process will be used to evaluate applications for new programmes from such
institutions. These institutions and their programmes can also be placed under
probation if their quality drops below a certain level and/or if they maintain
low quality scores for long periods.
Comprehensive Standards with Specific Indicators
The
new standards also include improvements to address the gaps in existing
standards: They outline a clearer procedure for establishing new institutions;
identify the measures needed for closing institutions and suspending programmes;
clarify violations and corresponding penalties; and set standards for
e-learning, recognising prior education, and for educational hospitals and
training centres; in addition to determining the financial obligations of higher
education institutions.
Specific indicators have been put in place to
measure each standard and provide a detailed explanation of its requirements. One
of the new standards, for instance, pertains to faculty members. It determines
the ratio of faculty members to number of students in a particular discipline
and the criteria for selecting faculty members according to the requirements of
various specialisations within the university, among other requirements. Furthermore,
the indicators cover all criteria related to the educational process from
curricula, programmes, and facilities, to activities, and admission conditions
for students.
02/04/2019
