Accreditation

An HEI in Switzerland must be accredited in accordance with HEdA if it wants to use the name ‘university’, ‘university of applied sciences’ or ‘university of teacher education’ in a national language or in another language. This also applies to derived versions of the name.

The terms ‘higher education institute’, ‘business school’ or other such terms are not protected.

No. The Higher Education Act (HEdA) calls for the uniting of research and teaching in HEIs.

No, the Higher Education Act (HEdA) permits no accreditation for affiliated entities. An HEI that wishes to be institutionally accredited must belong to a category defined by HEdA, such as a university, university of applied sciences, university of teacher education or an institute; other formats cannot be accredited.

For other institutions or entities, the AAQ offers evaluations.

According to the Higher Education Act (HEdA), the HEI must be a legal entity in Switzerland and possess infrastructure in Switzerland.

In Switzerland, no compulsory programme accreditation exists. In the context of its institutional accreditation, the HEI demonstrates that its quality assurance system extends to all areas, including of course its study programmes. However, these are not formally programme-accredited.

Programme accreditations are voluntary and possible according to HEdA, but only for institutions that are already institutionally accredited. If that is not the case, evaluation is an option.

In principle it can, but it must observe the legal requirements of its canton. The federal government does not regulate the awarding of titles. Moreover, the right of an HEI to award a title is not tied to accreditation.

The Swiss Accreditation Council holds a list of accredited HEIs. A list of accredited and recognised HEIs can also be found at swissuniversities.

No, the Swiss Accreditation Council maintains a list of approved agencies.

The competent body for admission to the procedure is the Swiss Accreditation Council. The admission form and a template for documentary evidence of how your institution meets the admission criteria (Art. 4, para 1, Accreditation Ordinance, Higher Education Act (HEdA)) can be downloaded from the website of the Accreditation Council. Please contact its office for information

The procedure for institutional accreditation, from the opening of proceedings to the decision of the Swiss Accreditation Council, lasts about two years.

Initial accreditation: 5 years

Reaccreditation: 8 years

The costs associated with the accreditation procedure are regulated in the SAC Fees
Ordinance (FeeO-SAC).

Initial accreditation: CHF 59’000 (excluding VAT)

The fee is calculated for a procedure comprising a one-day preliminary visit and a two-and-a-half-day site visit conducted by a panel of five experts. It consists of a flat fee of CHF 32,000 covering direct costs (experts’ fees, travel expenses, and accommodation) and a flat fee of CHF 27,000 covering indirect costs (AAQ’s administrative and operational expenses).

Reaccreditation: CHF 53,000 (excluding VAT)

The fee for reaccreditation is lower because the site visit is reduced to two days (instead of two and a half days for the initial accreditation).

Where applicable, the verification of compliance with the requirements will be billed separately.

The AAQ carries out institutional accreditation procedures in German, French, Italian and English. The language of the procedure is uniform and is established at the beginning of the process.

The AAQ provides information on the institutional accreditation procedure and, where necessary, holds individual meetings to discuss the procedure. However, it does not provide consultancy services.

The Swiss Accreditation Council (SAC) admits higher education institutions to the institutional accreditation procedure and mandates the Swiss Agency of Accreditation and Quality Assurance (AAQ) or another recognised agency to conduct the procedure. As the supervisory body of the AAQ, the SAC receives the long list of potential experts for comment. At the end of the procedure, the SAC takes the accreditation decision and communicates it directly to the higher education institution. The SAC also maintains a list of accredited higher education institutions on its website.

The higher education institution submits its application for institutional accreditation to the SAC. It prepares the self-evaluation report and makes all relevant documentation and information required for the assessment of the quality standards available to the expert panel. It provides the facilities for the visits and invites its internal stakeholders to participate in the interviews. The higher education institution is given the opportunity to comment on both the expert panel’s report and the AAQ’s accreditation proposal. Following the accreditation decision, it informs the SAC of any substantial changes affecting compliance with the quality standards (Ordinance to the HEdA, Art. 17).

Based on the higher education institution’s self-evaluation report and the visits, the group of experts assesses compliance with the quality standards. The experts participate in the preliminary visit and the site visit, conduct interviews with the institution’s stakeholders as critical friends, and prepare the expert panel’s report, which also includes a recommendation regarding accreditation.

The AAQ conducts the institutional accreditation procedure. It supports the higher education institution throughout the accreditation process, appoints the expert panel, and assists it in carrying out its mandate. Based on the institution’s self-evaluation report and the results of the external review, in particular the expert panel’s report, the AAQ prepares an accreditation proposal for submission to the SAC. The AAQ also publishes the accreditation report on its website.

Both visits are conducted in person, i.e. on site. Hybrid formats are generally not envisaged. Exceptions may be made in justified individual cases, for example if key participants become unavailable at short notice.

No. The same quality standards apply to all higher education institutions. However, the assessment takes account of each institution’s specific profile. This is ensured through the appointment of an expert panel whose expertise is matched to the institution’s profile.

Yes. The AAQ publishes on its website all reports that lead to an accreditation decision.

The various forms and methods of quality assurance procedures are based on the relevant legal requirements of the different countries.

System accreditation is a procedure performed exclusively in Germany. It certifies a quality assurance system for a higher education institution that extends over parts of the HEI (study and teaching). In Germany, an HEI chooses between system accreditation and programme accreditation.

A quality audit is a procedure that is carried out according to the Austrian HS-QSG (Act on Quality Assurance in Higher Education). The AAQ carries out such procedures in Austria.

Quality audits in Switzerland were carried out between 2001 and 2014 at the universities and in both Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology in three cycles; they were superseded by institutional accreditation with the introduction of HFKG in 2015.

In addition, the AAQ offers evaluations of institutions and study programmes; e.g. postgraduate master’s course. Evaluations are not tied to a legally valid decision.

Institutional accreditation guarantees that the HEI in question has a quality assurance system in place and meets defined quality standards. It is a confirmation of compliance with specified standards (HFKG in Switzerland; ESG (European Standards and Guidelines) in Europe) both nationally and internationally.

Institutional accreditation is the only national accreditation that covers an entire HEI. There are also optional programme accreditations (for HEIs that are already institutionally accredited), or programme accreditations offered by individual agencies and which are mostly subject-specific.

There is no other accreditation similar to this internationally. Institutional accreditation in Switzerland examines standards that apply to all areas of an HEI (i.e. not only teaching) and is therefore of high value.

The accreditation has no direct connection to the awarding of diplomas.

Admission to other HEIs depends on their local guidelines. In principle, the provisions of the Lisbon Convention that govern academic mobility apply.

No, that assumption cannot be made.

AAQ assumes that the higher education institutions start with the analysis from the first
accreditation for the reaccreditation. Of course, it is legitimate to reuse the self-evaluation report
from that time as a basis, which is also possible with the new report format.

The recommendations are inputs from the experts that can, but do not have to, be implemented
by the higher education institutions. AAQ recommends that when presenting the effectiveness
of the initial accreditation in the self-evaluation, the recommendations should also be addressed
(depending on the type and number of recommendations, also by way of example)

Overall, it can be assumed that fewer conditions will be imposed in the second cycle, but they
are still possible: the experts have leeway in interpreting the standards. Moreover, the duration
of 7 years should not be underestimated: The demands on the QM system are likely to have
changed during this time, as are the higher education institutions themselves.

The appointment of experts works according to the same principle (profile discussion, longlist)
as in the first accreditation. The higher education institution therefore has the opportunity to
comment on this. It can be an advantage if one person from the expert group was already
present at the initial accreditation, but this is not mandatory.