Akkrediteringsrådet

Accreditation in Denmark

Accreditation helps ensure high quality of Danish higher education institutions and their programmes.
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The accreditation system helps create a more coherent and transparent education market in Denmark for the benefit of students, the labour market and education institutions. This is achieved through a professional assessment of whether the institution or programme lives up to a number of standards for relevance, knowledge base, level, organisation and a well-functioning internal quality assurance system.

On 1 July 2013, a new Accreditation Act was introduced in Denmark. This lead to significant changes in the system for accreditation and quality assurance of Danish higher education programmes and institutions. The Act shifted focus in the accreditation system from individual programmes and local provision of programmes to entire education institutions.

The main elements in the Danish accreditation system following the new Act are:

Institutional accreditation

Here, the entire education institution is assessed. Institutional accreditation gives education institutions the responsibility and freedom to set up a system of their own that ensures quality and relevance of their programmes. If an education institution is awarded a positive accreditation, it will have more opportunities to set up new programmes and adjust existing programmes.

Following an amendment of the Accreditation Act, the guide to the second round of institutional accreditation was published in august 2019. It applies to the institutions that have obtained a positive institutional accreditation in the first round and therefore is moving forward to the second round.

Programme accreditation

Programme accreditation will continue in a transitional phase at education institutions that have not yet been awarded a positive institutional accreditation or commenced the process.

A distinction is drawn between accreditation of existing programmes according to an individual plan drawn up for the relevant institutions and accreditation of new programmes for which education institutions are applying to set up.

In addition, the Accreditation Council or the Minister for Higher Education and Science can also select programmes with particular challenges for a special review.

Read more about accreditation

You can find guides and more information about accreditation, quality assurance and higher education on the Danish Accreditation Institution’s website. Here, you can also find information about current legislation and criteria for institutional accreditation and programme accreditation.

International standards

In 2005, a number of European countries agreed on a common set of guidelines known as the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG) that were revised in 2015.

The Danish Accreditation Institution and Accreditation Council works according to these guidelines.

Read more: ESG – Standard and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area

In 2010, the Danish Accreditation Institution (then ACE Denmark) and the Accreditation Council received full membership of the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) upon being evaluated by an international panel and was adopted in the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR). The panel concluded that the methods used by the Institution and the Council fully meet the ESG criteria.

The Accreditation Institution and the Council were successfully reassessed by ENQA in 2016. A new review is planned for 2020/21.

Read more: ENQA’s accreditation report on the Danish Accreditation Institution from 2016 – The decision letter from ENQA

Facts on ESG

  • ESG is an abbreviation for European Standards and Guidelines.
  • The ESGs were adopted in 2005 by ministers of education from 45 countries participating in the Bologna Process and revised in 2015.
  • The ESGs can be applied to all types of higher educational programmes and within all scientific fields.

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