STRUCTURE AND BODIES

Once OE has received the accreditation request and the previously mentioned elements, they are submitted to an Accreditation Committee appointed by the Admission and Qualification Council (CAQ).

Accreditation COMMISSIONS consist of three to five members presided by a member of the CAQ from the same specialisation field as the course under assessment. The committee must also include two members assigned by the College and approved by the same Membership and Qualification Committee. COMMISSIONS are not always homogeneous.

Accreditation COMMISSIONS should be formed predominantly by members involved in entrepreneurial activities. This aspect is essential to show that the professional component is dominant, thereby relegating the more academic issues to other types of assessment entities, in particular the FUP.

The Accreditation Council analyses the information in the application dossiers and requests any missing information. It then analyses the information’s compliance with the recommendations in the “application guide.” Next, a visit to the facilities is agreed between the Accreditation Committee and the school. The school’s Executive Board or its representative will also indicate the persons to be interviewed from the Executive, Scientific and Educational Boards, other professors or assistant professors, students in their last year or recent graduates, in addition to other persons not indicated in advance but that are found to be of importance as the visit progresses. The final decision will always be sent to the school together with the CAQ’s opinion and with the National Executive Board’s decision of approval.

After the visit, the committee must prepare various documents: a fact report submitted to the school for remarks; a compliance analysis report (compliance with the requirements) and the recommendations; lastly, a decision proposal to be submitted to the CAQ (full 6-year accreditation, limited 3-year accreditation or non-accreditation). The three documents prepared by the Accreditation Committee are included in the full report that is subject to final approval by the National Executive Board (CDN). The Accreditation Committee’s report is not made public, but rather only the decision on whether to concede the accreditation and the respective accreditation period.

Conclusions based on data must be rigorous. Preferably, the school will be asked to confirm the calculations, when these are essential to the assessment conclusion. Defining the basic sciences, engineering sciences and specialisation and complementary subjects must be well thought out, since classification may vary substantially from specialisation to specialisation.

There is always a possibility, when requested by the school, to provide additional clarifications about the report.