By providing assurance that organisations are compliant with their regulatory responsibilities, accreditation reduces the need for government and regulatory bodies to employ their own specialist assessment personnel.
In addition to providing a safe working environment for employees, accreditation also gives construction companies confidence that products and raw materials are safe and meet specifications. For manufacturers, accreditation helps limit product failure while simultaneously reducing technical barriers to trade. The owners and operators of buildings can help to discharge their legal duties by using accredited companies to monitor the safety of the built environment. Consumers benefit too, as accreditation helps generate confidence in the safety of buildings and infrastructure, as well as demonstrable proof of claims about sustainability, environmental performance and energy efficiency.
An ever growing UK population continues to increase the pressure on existing commercial and domestic infrastructure, particularly in urban areas. Combined with rising financial and environmental concerns, the need for safer, cleaner and smarter construction projects has never been greater. By helping to control risk, demonstrate regulatory compliance and provide quality assurance, accreditation delivers confidence throughout the supply chain that buildings and infrastructure are both safe and of high quality.
It also helps drive efficiencies and the adoption of best practices, thereby reducing costs and easing the financial pressures for everyone concerned. Jon Murthy.
Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Friday, November 12, One in 10 construction workers suffer poor mental health. UL — Global safety science certification. M-AR — a solutions based, leading offsite contractor. I have seen the mistake of accreditation applied to individuals from very reputable organizations.
This is where credentialing experts must be consulted. If you have read this, you know where to find a credentialing expert. February 7, By Dr. CHEA is the international authority on post-secondary accreditation and also maintains a list of agencies it deems reputable on its website. It may seem like accreditation has no importance to you as a student, but that could not be further from the truth. When you graduate and look for a job, employers take into consideration the school you attended and if it is accredited by a reliable agency.
If your degree is from an institution that has questionable accreditation, employers will question the validity of your degree and your potential as a good job candidate. Also, if you plan on transferring to another institution at any time in your academic career, no school will take transfer credits from an unaccredited university. Does "accreditation" just seem like a random piece of college jargon to you?
If so, you are not alone. Many students are unsure about what accreditation means and why it is important. After all, as long as you learn the material, you should be able to walk away with a degree that means something, right? Not necessarily. While some unaccredited programs might offer valuable learning experiences, not all educational offerings are created equal.
Attending an unaccredited program can mean that you will not be eligible for federal financial aid, you will not be able to transfer credits to another school, and you will not be able to obtain appropriate professional licensure in your field. Accreditation can make the difference between embarking on an exciting career path, or being saddled with debt and worthless credits.
Accreditation is a voluntary evaluation process that institutions of higher education undergo in order to maintain standards of educational quality agreed upon by members of an accrediting body. Accreditation assessments may include self-study on the part of the institution as well as evaluations by representatives of peer institutions who belong to the same accrediting agency.
There are numerous accrediting agencies in the United States. The most widely recognized accrediting agencies for colleges and universities are:. Accreditation by these agencies and some other similar agencies is known as institutional accreditation. In addition, some careers may require that students attend programs with specialized accreditation.
Specialized accreditation typically applies to certain vocations such as law or nursing. In this case, the accrediting agency is a professional organization that evaluates the effectiveness of a program in terms of how well it prepares students to meet certain professional standards.
Students should determine if their career path requires that their program of choice be accredited by one of these specialized agencies before committing to a program.
Department of Education does not accredit colleges and universities itself, but it does maintain a database of accredited schools and recognized accrediting agencies. This is an excellent place for students to start looking for information about school and program accreditation. The CHEA also does not accredit institutions itself, but it has information about accrediting agencies.
An accredited degree can make a huge difference in your future career; doing a little research now can save time and trouble in the future. Imagine five students, with rosy future careers as a lawyer, librarian, dentist, nurse, and psychologist lying ahead of them.
Although their interests and career paths are radically different, they all have one important question to answer before choosing their professional program. Is their program of choice-not just their college or university-properly accredited?
In order to answer this question, each student must first understand the difference between institutional accreditation and program accreditation. For institutional accreditation, representatives from dedicated accrediting institutions evaluate colleges and universities. This is a means for colleges and universities to assess their own performance and compare themselves with other schools.
If a school is awarded accreditation means that the institution meets certain standards of educational quality. The most widely accepted institutional accrediting bodies in the United States are six regional agencies:.
Institutional accreditation is not necessarily a guarantee that credits will transfer between institutions, although it does make it far more likely. Students can check with the program to which they wish to transfer to see if credits will be accepted. Attending an accredited program also carries numerous other benefits.
Students at institutionally accredited organizations are eligible for federal financial aid, and employers are much more likely to recognize accredited degree programs. Furthermore, having undergone an accreditation process means that the institution meets a high standard of educational quality. In contrast, many unaccredited institutions are the equivalent of diploma mills, providing nothing of actual value to their students.
Similarly, some "accrediting agencies" are also mills, set up simply to give an aura of legitimacy to the institutions that they falsely accredit. Students should always check the U.
Department of Education database of recognized accrediting bodies and institutions. The second type of accreditation, program accreditation, is generally administered by professionally oriented specialty accrediting bodies. The idea is that professionals in a given field are best able to judge a program's educational quality.
For instance, law schools are accredited by the American Bar Association and library schools are accredited by the American Library Association. Individual professions-such as nursing, dentistry, and psychology-are covered by their own specialized agencies. In many cases, attending a program that is recognized by the right agency is a prerequisite for obtaining a job in fields such as psychology, law, and healthcare. Many programmatic accreditors such as the APA require that accredited programs be housed in an institutionally accredited school.
Programs may be offered that are judged by these specialty bodies, without necessarily possessing institutional accreditation. For instance, continuing education programs within non-educational settings such as hospitals may be accredited by a specialized accreditation agency.
Such courses may count professionally towards professional certifications or state licenses but will not transfer for college transfer credit.
Similarly, if a specialty body accredits a program at a school, but the school itself is not institutionally accredited, the program may have professional value, yet credits will not transfer and students may not be able to receive federal financial aid. Since professional requirements vary, it is crucial to find out what accreditation is necessary for a given career.
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