SyStem AccreditAtion

System
Accreditation
HFU is one of the first universities in Germany to have its internal quality management system reviewed according
to system accreditation standards. On 30 September 2010, HFU was officially admitted to the system accreditation
process run by ACQUIN (Akkreditierungs-, Certifizierungs- und Qualitätssicherungsinstitut), the Accreditation,
Certification, and Quality Assurance Institute.
What is system accreditation?
The criteria for system accreditation set out by the German Accreditation Council (Drs. AR 11/2008) describes
system accreditation as follows: „The subject matter of the system accreditation is the internal quality assurance
system of a higher education institution in the field of teaching and learning. The structures and processes
relevant for teaching and learning are assessed with regard to their appropriateness for achieving the qualification
objectives of and ensuring the high quality of the study programmes, with the Standards and Guidelines for
Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG), the guidelines of the Standing Conference of the
Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (Kultusministerkonferenz – KMK), and the criteria of the Accreditation
Council being applied. A positive system accreditation attests that the higher education institution‘s quality
assurance system in the field of teaching and learning is appropriate to achieve the qualification objectives and to
ensure the quality standards of its study programmes. Accordingly, study programmes set up after system accreditation
or that have already been the subject matter of internal quality assurance as specified by the accredited
system are accredited.“
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System
Accreditation
What is the system accreditation procedure for HFU
• From 24 to 26 November 2010: Second site inspection conducted by evalag (Evaluationsagentur Baden-Württemberg
– the Evaluation Agency Baden-Württemberg) – the aim of this external audit was to review the state
of our quality management system after the recommendations from the first site inspection had been widely
implemented
• Winter semester 2010-11 and summer semester 2011: Production of self-evaluation report
• Winter semester 2011-12: First site inspection conducted by a group of ACQUIN evaluators (collecting information
on HFU and its management systems)
• From winter semester 2011-12 to summer semester 2012: Second site inspection conducted by group of
ACQUIN evaluators (performing critical analysis of submitted documents and conducting random feature
samples); random programme sampling
• End of February 2013: Final decision on system accreditation und Programmstichproben
• Ende Februar 2013: Abschließende Entscheidung über die Systemakkreditierung
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