Regulation and Accreditation of Higher Education Refers

¶ … Regulation and accreditation of higher education refers to control processes carried out on institutions offering higher education with the aim of ensuring that they operate according to some set standards.

Higher education regulation generally refers to the imposition of requirements, conditions or standards which institutions offering higher education are expected to meet so as to ensure that they operate in a manner that promotes the interest of the public. Regulation of higher education is mostly done by regulatory bodies that are established by a legal mandate of a country of jurisdiction. Regulatory bodies are required to enforce the set requirements or conditions established by the laws of a certain jurisdiction and ensure compliance by the institutions offering higher education (Kaplin & Lee, 2007).

Accreditation of higher education, on the other hand, refers to the determination of whether the higher education being offered, e.g. By an institution of higher learning, is appropriate and can be considered as having met required higher education standards. The practice of accrediting higher education is meant to assure the general public, organizations or concerned agencies that a certain higher education institution is operating according to appropriate objectives. Accreditation of an institution of a higher education institution also symbolizes that the institution has met some requirements or standards and that the institution can be expected to continue operating in a manner that satisfies set standards.

Therefore, the difference between regulation and accreditation is that regulation involves the coming up of rules or standards to be met by institutions offering higher education while accreditation refers to the ascertainment that a particular higher education institution has indeed met the standards that were imposed on it.

Example of a higher education regulatory body:

A good example of a regulatory body established to regulate higher education institutions is the Higher Education Better Regulation Group (HEBRG). The regulatory body was formed in the year 2010 as an improvement of a preceding regulatory body called the Higher Education Review Group (HERRG). The HEBRG was formed to improve old higher education regulations and come with new regulations that met accountability standards set by both political forces and the public. Members of the HEBRG are comprised of various bodies that fund higher education, regulators and representative bodies from England, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland.

Purpose and scope of powers of HEBRG:

The main force or purpose behind the establishment of the HEBRG was the need to have a regulatory body that would be charged with the responsibility of coming up with better laws that would be used to regulate institutions of higher learning. The HEBRG was expected to come up with laws that would that would ensure that institutions of higher education operated in a manner that maximizes the achievement the both political and public interests.

In order to carry its work effectively, the HEBRG's scope of work involves the certain activities. First, the HEBRG is supposed to work closely with the government in coming up with better regulation measures that will govern the operation of higher education institutions. The HEBRG is supposed to represent the higher education sector and its interests in the government (Bloland, 2001).

The HEBRG has also been charged with the responsibility of assessing the impacts of the existing regulations on higher education. The regulatory body is supposed to improve on the gains achieved as a result of the existing regulation as well as improve any areas where there may be a weakness or a loophole that hinders the perfect operation of the higher education sector. The HEBRG is also responsible for revising and making updates on the Higher education Concordat as well as supporting the operations of new signatories.

The scope of operation of the HEBRG also involves the implementation of any new or emerging best practices that will help improve the level of accountability and regulation in the higher education sector. The HEBRG is also responsible for fostering good communication and engagement between the higher education sector and other bodies such as professional, statutory and regulatory bodies (PSRBs) (Hentschke, Lechuga, & Tierney, 2010).

Example of a higher education accreditation body:

A good example of a higher education accrediting body is a body called the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). The body began its operations in the year 1997. The purpose that led to the formation of CHEA was the need to have a body that could be trusted with the responsibility of recognizing legitimate higher education institutions that had met the set standards of operation (Bloland, 2001).

Scope of powers of CHEA:

CHEA was charged with a wide scope of duties that revolved around the accreditation of higher education institutions. The main responsibility of CHEA was to come up with standards that or criteria that would be followed in recognizing and accrediting higher education institutions. CHEA was also responsible for review petitions of higher education institutions that had been denied accreditation.

CHEA was also responsible for the maintaining the list of accredited higher education institutions. Another task of CHEA was to handle the mediation when accreditation conflicts occurred as well as coming up with ways of improving accreditation procedures (Bloland, 2001).

Similarities between the regulation and accreditation of higher education institutions:

The practices of regulation and accreditation of higher education institutions have some similarities. The first similarity is that bodies established to either handle regulation or accreditation of higher education institutions are established by law. Bodies charged with the responsibility of either regulating or accrediting higher education are given powers by the existent laws of the land to carry out their obligations (Kaplin & Lee, 2007).

The second similarity between higher education regulating and accrediting bodies is that both institutions are have the main objective of ensuring that higher education institutions maintain high standards in their operations. Regulation is supposed to ensure that higher education institutions meet certain minimum requirements of operation while accreditation is used as a measure of ensuring that higher education institutions operate above a certain standard of efficiency (Kaplin & Lee, 2007).

Regulation and accreditation of institutions of higher education is also similar in that both give legitimacy to higher education institutions. All higher education institutions are required to follow certain regulations so as to qualify to be considered legitimate by law. In the same way, a higher education institution also needs to be accredited by an authorized accreditation body for the public to view it as legitimate (Kaplin & Lee, 2007).