Institutional Accreditation
ZEvA conducts quality reviews both at programme and at institutional level. For institutional quality audits outside Germany, the agency has developed special concepts and guidelines.
Just like programme-based reviews, institutional assessment procedures put a strong focus on teaching and learning. The quality of study programmes and learning environments lies at the center of the review procedure. The higher education institution is not primarily measured against external standards, but against its own quality goals.
Institutional assessment is, to a great extent, about quality improvement: it is an important part of the peers’ role and mission to act as consultants who give recommendations for the further development and optimization of study programmes and quality assurance systems.
As an alternative to institution-wide reviews, the assessment may focus on individual faculties, departments or key units of a higher education institution.
Provided the outcome of the assessment is positive, ZEvA awards a quality certificate to the higher education institution.
Like all of ZEvA’s services, institutional reviews are based on the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG) launched by the European Ministers for Education in Bergen in May 2005, which are now a widely accepted framework for internal and external quality assurance across and beyond the European Higher Education Area.
The ZEvA Manual for Institutional Assessment Procedures can be downloaded here:
Manual Institutional Accreditation (PDF-File)