The accreditation of Higher Education Institutions, 2013

Accreditation can be defined as the process through which credibility, authority, capability and ability can be certified. In the higher education, accreditation is a process that ensures quality, evaluating the compliance of the service and activities of the Higher Education Institution (HEI) or its programs with the standards, a process that takes a very high importance in terms of a market still growing and developing, as in our country. Open Data Albania has taken into consideration the institutions accredited till 2013 by the Accreditation Agency for Higher Education (AAHE), whether they belong to the public or private sector.

Thus, from a total of 59 institutions, there are: 31 institutions that have completed institutional accreditation, including all their constituent units; 3 institutions have completed accreditation only to its constituent units (as for example one or several specific faculties), 7 institutions are in the accreditation process; 7 institutions that have not completed accreditation, but are within legal deadlines for initiating this process and finally, 11 HEIs that have are not accredited and have over passed the deadlines for this process.

^{Source: Accreditation Agency for Higher Education
Processing and comments: ODA}

The following tables present information on the status of accreditation to any institution of higher education.

Institutionally accredited institutions

^{Source: Accreditation Agency for Higher Education
Processing and comments: ODA}

Institutions that conduct accreditation only to its constituent units

^{Source: Accreditation Agency for Higher Education
Processing and comments: ODA}

Institutions that are in the accreditation process:

^{Source: Accreditation Agency for Higher Education
Processing and comments: ODA}

Institutions that do not perform institutional accreditation, classified among the institutions that are still within the legal limits for the conduct process and institutions which have not carried out accreditation and over passed deadlines:

^{Source: Accreditation Agency for Higher Education
Processing and comments: ODA}

Most of the not accredited institutions are public. From a total of 18 not accredited institutions, 13 of them or 72 % are public, while five are private. In fact, from all public institutions in the country, only the Defence Academy has completed full accreditation, while the Polytechnic University of Tirana is in the process. Meanwhile, all other public institutions have not entered into the accreditation process yet.

The situation seems different in the private sector. Of the 44 private institutions of higher education, 30 or 68 % of them have completed the process. Meanwhile, six institutions or 13.6 % are still in the process of accreditation and 5 or 11.4 % of them have not started at all, despite being within the legal limits. It is on the selection of these HEIs where students should focus, because getting a negative response, or even worse, completing the studies while the institution hasn?t performed accreditation, makes the student diploma not valid in the Republic of Albania.

^{Source: Accreditation Agency for Higher Education
Processing and comments: ODA}