Every recognized accrediting agency is expected to demonstrate that it has standards for accreditation and pre-accreditation that are sufficiently rigorous to ensure that the agency is a reliable authority regarding evaluation of the quality of the education or training provided by the institutions or programs it accredits. The standards, set by the U.S. Secretary of Education, must effectively address the quality of the institution or program in ten areas." (Commission Report, 2004)

Hence, the very goal of the accrediting bodies is to guarantee that every schools or educational facilities within the state or the country offers quality education and learning system that passed the standards sets by the Department of Education. Needless to say, those students from a non-U.S. country will have to be assessed first if the subjects taken and the schools they attended before are aligned with the standards of the schools in the U.S. before they can ask to accredit their courses, subjects or grades taken.

Hence it can be reflected that both the regulatory and the accreditation bodies is aimed at ensuring quality education is served and given to the students and that higher educational achievements will be maintained by the students and the educators. However, these two are separate entities because the very means of upholding their...

Accreditation provides a mechanism for associations created and funded by institutions to adopt standards and practices by which the institutions essentially "police" themselves" (Commission Report, 2004).
References

Commission Report. "State Licensure vs. Accreditation of Proprietary Schools and Colleges: A Review and Comparison of Roles and Functions. California PostSecondary Education commission. (2004).

Commission Review of a Proposal by Riverside Community College District to Convert the Norco Educational Center to College Status: A Report to the Governor and Legislature in Response to a Request from California Community College Board of Governors (March 2004)

Fiscal Profiles, 2002: The Twelfth Annual in a Series of Factbooks About the Financing of California Higher Education (April 2003)

State Licensure vs. Accreditation of Proprietary Schools and Colleges - a Review and Comparison of Roles and Functions (March 2004)

Student Profiles, 2003: The Latest in a Series of Annual Factbooks About Student Participation in California Higher Education (November 2003)