The constant changes that society is going through are demanding more preparation in its students, from the basic level to the higher level.
It is this last level, in charge of training competent, critical, analytical individuals capable of solving the problems that arise, it is worth mentioning that to achieve this, not only do you need the action of teachers or have a good infrastructure.
It is necessary to reformulate the educational model, propose new teaching mechanisms, update study plans and programs.
These processes are not carried out by themselves, they need specialized help in terms of human resources and organizations. In order for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to be able to provide a quality education, they need to go through an accreditation process, which will verify if HEIs are fulfilling or comply with what is required to offer a good social function to their enrollees.
To begin with this essay, a description of the concepts of Higher Education, Accreditation and Quality of Education will be made. Subsequently, the Accreditation process will be detailed, preceded by the agencies responsible for performing this function.
The higher level or Higher Education is a space where young competences, abilities and skills, in it, the knowledge provided is more specific, serving as a guide to the professional field, with the intention of making it an active subject and / or productive, responsible, humanistic, critical, reflective and autonomous.
Accreditation, is understood as the evaluation that is made to the Educational Programs of HEIs (both public and private), this evaluation is externally, that is, it is organizations outside these institutions that carry out this work, with the in order to monitor the quality of these.
It should be emphasized that when saying "Evaluation of Educational Programs" not only reference is made to the study plans, Citing Pallan Figueroa (sfp 5) mentions "accreditation as a process through which elements are identified to prepare a judgment on study programs, students, professionals in performance or educational institutions, in accordance with quality criteria of the development of their function ”.
Accreditation involves a search for social recognition and prestige by HEIs, with the aim of achieving such recognition. In order for HEIs to offer the provision of their educational services, they must have certain authorization, as established in the Law for the Coordination of Higher Education “Public institutions of higher education and individuals with official authorization or recognition of studies will participate in the provision of educational services, in accordance with the provisions of this ordinance ”. (Official Gazette of the Federation, December 29, 1978)
As previously mentioned, the purpose of accreditation is to supervise the quality of education at the higher level, understanding quality in the first instance as the improvement of certain production (knowledge, tasks, jobs, etc.). Therefore, the quality of education is understood as: a process in which educational programs meet their stated goals and objectives, but quality encompasses even more than just educational programs, within this term school infrastructure is also taken into account, teaching work, innovation and educational research, among others.
It is important to mention that the requirement for the accreditation process was not initiated by a person or a school, but by the National Association of Universities and Institutions of Higher Education of the Mexican Republic (ANUIES) during the seventies, which sought the improvement of higher education through an evaluation process. ANUIES is an organization outside the government, is grouped by Mexican public and private institutions, conducts research on higher education, seeks improvement and quality of higher education, supports inter-institutional exchange, establishes agreements with foreign institutions and with the productive sector. from the country. (UNESCO, 2010).
For an institution of higher education, whether public or private, to belong to ANUIES, it must develop certain activities required by that association, such activities are: teaching, research, dissemination of culture, it must have a certain number of enrolled students (enrolled) and graduates with a degree.
Once the institution is accepted, it is subject to the accreditation processes that are carried out by organizations that come from the same ANUIES, such as: the Inter-institutional Committees for the Evaluation of Higher Education (CIEES), the other organizations that are also in charge of of the accreditation process are: the Council for the Accreditation of Higher Education, AC (COPAES), National Commission for the Evaluation of Higher Education (CONAEVA), National Coordination of Planning for Higher Education (CONPES), Federation of Private Mexican Institutions of Higher Education (FIMPES), National Center for the Evaluation of Higher Education (CNEES), these organizations are national, there are also some international ones that support the accreditation process:Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Inter-institutional Committees for the Evaluation of Higher Education (CIEES)
The CIEES are in charge of carrying out diagnostic evaluations and accreditation of the academic programs, functions and services of the IES, in the same way they perform administration and management functions, extension of the culture in the institutions that request it. It is important to mention that these committees better known as “peer committees” are divided into 9, which are in charge of evaluating a specific area:
- Natural and Exact SciencesAgricultural SciencesEngineering and TechnologyAdministrationSocial and Administrative SciencesEducation and HumanitiesHealth SciencesArchitecture, Design and Urban PlanningDiffusion and Extension
These areas are made up of academics belonging to various institutions in the country, each committee is made up of nine academic staff members (peers) and an expert in the area from the social or productive sector.
The CIEES within the main functions they perform are:
- Diagnostic evaluation of HEIs:
In this process a documentary study of the program, a field visit, and the formulation of the report are carried out. The results of this process are confidential and are delivered to the rector of the institution. The report includes a general rating in three levels, expressing the degree of consolidation of the program, as well as specific recommendations for its improvement. (Accrediting Bodies of Higher Education. P. 3)
Council for Accreditation of Higher Education, AC (COPAES)
COPAES is a non-governmental organization which contributes to the accreditation process of public and private HEIs, through accrediting bodies, that is, COPAES is in charge of providing formal recognition to organizations that are suitable and have good organization to carry out the accreditation of academic programs.
According to COPAES principles, its objective is to “contribute to the quality assurance of academic programs offered in public and private institutions in Mexico, through the formal recognition of accreditation organizations that demonstrate the suitability, quality and reliability of their processes and results, and that they develop their functions and processes based on the Guidelines and the General Framework for the Accreditation Processes of
Higher Level Academic Programs established by the same Council ”(COPAES Principles, 2001).
It is worth mentioning that despite the fact that each organization uses a different methodology to carry out the accreditation, they must adhere to the guidelines stipulated by COPAES. There are currently 29 accrediting agencies that make up the Council. Some of the elements that these agencies must take into account to work are:
- Categories, factors or areas: Within this is the Curriculum, teachers, students, school infrastructure, support equipment for the program, research activities, planning and management. Evaluation criteria Parameters, standards or benchmarks for evaluation
In order for an institution to participate in this process through COPAES, an application needs to be made, but by academic program, since some Institutions have more than one. Below are 3 steps that will be performed for HEIs to be accepted and accredited.
- Said Institution must carry out a self-evaluation of the program that it wishes to be accredited, within this, it must take into account, both the infrastructure, characteristics of the program, the organization of those who work in it, the teachers, students and all the personnel that The accrediting agency will carry out an evaluation of the program, in which it must verify if it is pertinent, suitable and of quality, or if it needs any restructuring. After the evaluation has been carried out, a report will be drawn up specifying whether the program is or is not accredited, this will be delivered to the corresponding institution.
While the CIEES carry out a more diagnostic evaluation, the COPAES is in charge of analyzing the IES program in detail, in order to accredit or discredit said program.
National Commission for the Evaluation of Higher Education (CONAEVA) Since its creation on November 23, 1989, this commission has been made up of eight members; four representatives of the federal government: Undersecretaries for Programming and Budget, Educational Coordination, Higher Education and Technological Research; and four members of the ANUIES National Council: Rectors of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, University of Guadalajara and Universidad Veracruzana, and the Executive Secretary General (Proposed Guidelines for the Evaluation of Higher Education, 1990, p. 3).
CONAEVA is in charge of promoting institutional self-evaluation , and also promotes evaluation (based on the formulation of criteria) in higher education to improve educational quality. Arredondo, (2000) points out that in order to continue this process, CONAEVA needs to formulate guidelines, criteria and quality standards. Likewise, the commission constantly supports the other entities so that the evaluation and accreditation process of HEIs can be carried out.
The work of this organization is also directed towards the elaboration of pertinent strategies to be able to carry out the evaluation, in the same way to generate innovations in order to help HEIs become quality institutions and competent before those from abroad.
It is essential to mention that according to the evaluation strategies, three types of evaluation are distinguished within this commission: Institutional evaluation (carried out by each of the HEIs); Evaluation of the global system of Higher Education (Carried out by a commission made up of SEP / ANUIES); the evaluation of the plans and study programs of the Institutions (carried out by the CIEES, according to the Program to be evaluated).
National Coordination of Higher Education Planning (CONPES)
CONPES, together with CONAEVA, carry out evaluation programs towards the quality of Higher Education, within their guidelines, they mark that evaluation must be a constant process, institutionally and inter-institutionally.
Federation of Private Mexican Institutions of Higher Education (FIMPES)
FIMPES is an institution that encompasses private Higher Education Institutions, its purpose is to improve educational quality, see if institutions have sufficient programs, resources, and services to provide a good education.
This Federation has its own mechanism to carry out the accreditation of its IES and therefore, these must be subject to the accreditation process established in the federation. The accreditation process within this Federation consists of three stages: 1) Self-study by the institution, 2) Validation of the self-study by FIMPES experts, 3) Accreditation report, which describes whether or not a the IES.
A very important point that FIMPES manages is the use of four possible results of the process: accredited, accredited with recommendations, accredited with conditions and not accredited. The second and third results, despite marking the accreditation, also indicate that the Institutions must improve or restructure their educational programs so that at a certain time they can enjoy the first type of result. The last result indicates that the Institution does not have a relevant program and therefore will not have recognition.
It is worth mentioning that in order for a private HEI to enjoy recognition of validity before the SEP and the state educational authorities, it must have the Official Validity Recognition of Studies (REVOE), if it does not have this recognition, the Institution will be considered a duckling university.
National Center for the Evaluation of Higher Education (CNEES)
This center is in charge of carrying out evaluations, where it applies both entrance exams for the Bachelor's Degree (ENIPL) and exit exams, the preparation of entrance evaluations arose from the assembly that ANUIES organized in 1993 and in which this demand, in the evaluation of graduation the levels of academic achievement are verified, that is, to analyze the degree of knowledge that the student acquires during his training. Although the evaluation is not carried out directly to the institution, this will serve to corroborate that HEIs are providing a quality education and are fulfilling their missions and visions.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
It is made up of different countries, which share some common characteristics, such as improvement for the quality of education. Although the OECD does not act as an accrediting body, it is in charge of ensuring that member countries use their economic resources in an efficient way, being these resources the ones that will help these countries meet both social and educational needs and thus provide education for quality.
Within the multiple OECD assemblies, countries share different experiences they are going through or have gone through, these may be related to the economic, political, sociological and even (the field that interests us most) the educational one. If countries that have difficulties in this area adopt some mechanism that the others have used to improve their education and adapt them to their context, it will be easier to improve education and that it is of quality.
As already mentioned in some sections, although the previous organizations have different methods to carry out the accreditation process, they all converge that this will serve to offer a quality education. To establish the accreditation of a Higher Education Institution, it must undergo several filters, from those that go to self-evaluation by the same institution to evaluation by accrediting bodies. Who will determine if the institution has quality standards to be able to provide you with the mention that so many institutions want.
It is of utmost importance to say that accreditation is not done only once, but that it must be a constant in both public and private Higher Education Institutions and those that are accredited are committed to improving day by day. It is not necessary to wait for the organizations to start with the process, since all the Institutions have the power to take the initiative and thus contribute to satisfy the demands of today's society: Educational Quality.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Arredondo, V. (sf). Evaluation, planning and budgeting as basic processes for quality control in Higher Education. Mexico.Federation, DO (December 29, 1978). Law for the Coordination of Higher Education. Mexico, DFO Accrediting Bodies of Higher Education. The case of Mexico. (sf). 3.Pallan Figueroa, C. (sf). The Evaluation and Accreditation Processes of Higher Education Institutions in Mexico in recent years. Proposal of Guidelines for the Evaluation of Higher Education. (1990). IX Extraordinary meeting of the ANUIES General Assembly, (page 3). Tampico, Tamaulipas.UNESCO. (2010). World Declaration on Higher Education in the XXI century: Vision and Action and Priority Framework for Action for Change and Development in Higher Education.
