Quality assurance
19 Sep 2008
Higher education in Holland enjoys a worldwide reputation for its high quality. This is achieved through a national system of regulation and quality assurance.
Accreditation and Quality Control
The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (www.minocw.nl) is responsible for legislation pertaining to education. See also www.qa-in.nl. Responsibility for accreditation has been allocated to the Accreditation Organization of the Netherlands and Flanders (see www.nvao.nl).
Students will be awarded recognized degrees only after completing an accredited degree programme. Accredited programmes will be listed in the Central Register of Higher Education Programmes (CROHO).
Only degree programmes can be accredited by the NVAO: programmes and courses leading to a Certificate or a Diploma cannot be accredited by the NVAO and are the responsibility of the institutions concerned.
Institutions may also offer bachelor’s, master’s or other programmes that have not been accredited by the NVAO, but by an accrediting body in another country. For example, a master’s programme offered by a Dutch University of Applied Sciences may be validated by a recognized British university.
In the database of international programmes and courses the status of each individual programme is indicated by icons.
Accreditation of degree programmes
A degree programme leads to an associate degree, a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree or a PhD degree. The system of accreditation in higher education aims to guarantee that study programmes meet the highest standards.
The law (the Higher Education and Research Act) requires that all degree programmes offered by universities and Universities of Applied Sciences be evaluated against a specific set of criteria.
Associate bachelor’s and master’s programmes that meet the criteria are accredited by the NVAO (i.e. officially recognized). PhD programmes are the responsibility of the university concerned and cannot be accredited by the NVAO.
Quality control of specialized courses
A separate group of non-degree programmes and courses is that of the specialized courses. As these courses do not lead to a bachelor’s or master’s degree, they cannot be submitted for accreditation by the NVAO.
The fact that a specialized course has not been accredited does not therefore mean that it does not meet quality criteria. The quality of specialized courses that are part of an accredited master’s programme is assured through the accreditation of the main programme.
For other types of specialized courses, a procedure is currently being prepared so that institutions are able to declare that the course meets a minimum set of quality criteria.