Introduction

United Institute, through its main constituent school, United International Business School (UIBS), recently achieved institutional accreditation from the EQAR-listed British Accreditation Council (BAC). EQAR, the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education, is the official register of quality assurance agencies that accredit institutions and/or programs based on the official European Standards and Guidelines.

During its review, BAC has evaluated quality standards such as Governance, management, staffing and administration; Academic management; Teaching, learning and assessment; Learner welfare; Premises and facilities; and Online distance blended learning

We are very proud to have achieved this accreditation from BAC. It is a significant achievement for our institution that acknowledges our delivery of high-quality education across our campus network.

Accreditation project

Driven by continuous improvement, the goal to achieve institutional accreditation by an EQAR-listed agency was added to our institutional roadmap a while ago. The project was led by our Quality Assurance Officer, Camila Cepeda. Camila is one of our senior team members, is an experienced higher education professional, and also serves as an evaluator and commissioner for other quality assurance agencies.

“This is a major milestone to achieve, which would not have been possible without the input from all team members, faculty members and our most important stakeholders – our students. Thank you all for your contributions and for this joint learning experience!”

Accreditation benefits

We benefit from institutional accreditation as it complements the programmatic accreditation that we have already achieved for most of our degree programs. The road to achieve an institutional accreditation has further strengthened our quality assurance systems and alignment with the European Standards and Guidelines, which in turn mainly benefits students. Institutional accreditation from an EQAR-listed agency such as BAC will translate to additional recognition of our institution and/or programs, depending on the jurisdiction.

Review results

The BAC inspectors identified several strengths as follow:

  • Good oversight, financial management and strong and focused leadership support the continuous development of the provision and its quality.
  • A clear and well-documented management structure ensures senior leaders and managers understand their roles well.
  • Highly effective channels of communication support the Institution’s day-to-day activities and further development.
  • The Institution has comprehensive and systematic administrative systems that support its work effectively.
  • A highly effective administrative team ensures the smooth running of the Institution for the benefit of students and staff.
  • Robust staff recruitment procedures ensure that staff are suitably qualified and experienced and fully understand their specific responsibilities.
  • The dedicated staff are committed to the principle of ensuring that students receive a high-quality education and student experience that meets their needs and the Institution’s aims.
  • Highly effective teaching results in good levels of student satisfaction, engagement and progress.
  • Very knowledgeable and experienced teachers support their students well to achieve their chosen qualification.
  • Students benefit from high-quality learning resources that support their independent learning skills well.
  • The well-developed pastoral system supports students at the Institution effectively.
  • A wide range of online learning resources supports students’ independent learning skills well.
  • High-quality premises support learning effectively and enhance the students’ experience. Well-resourced classrooms successfully allow effective delivery of the Institution’s range of courses.
  • A wide range of quality assurance mechanisms are linked effectively to the Institution’s strategic objectives and this ensures that the aims of the Institution are met.
  • Leaders and managers have implemented a comprehensive range of feedback processes to gather the views of students and other stakeholders.
  • A highly effective IT platform fully supports all aspects of the Institution’s work and promotes excellent student support.
  • Teachers are well qualified and experienced in the delivery of online and distance learning.

The full review is available publicly on the BAC website.

Higher education jargon

The European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR) is the European Higher Education Area’s (EHEA) official register of quality assurance agencies (QAA) that substantially comply with the European Standards and Guidelines (ESG). QAA’s accredit higher education institutions (HEI) and/or programs. The former is called ‘institutional accreditation’; the latter is called ‘programmatic accreditation’.

About United Institute

Dedicated since 2002 to cross-cultural education with a global perspective, United Institute is a multi-campus, multi-disciplinary and institutionally-accredited private higher education institution. Our constituent schools, United International Business School (UIBS) and United School for Liberal Studies (USLS), offer flexible study programs with multiple starting dates at the Undergraduate/Bachelor and (Post)Graduate/Master/Doctorate levels. Our main and online campuses are based in Zurich, Switzerland, and our branch and satellite campuses across Europe and Japan. In the 22-23 academic year, we celebrated 20 years of excellence.

British Accreditation Council (BAC)