Povl Tiedemann, Head of Department, Association of Danish Business Economists.
Quality approval shift – initial steps in Denmark from local or national public authority signatories to international assessment and accreditation
The Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation has – till now – been responsible for issuing approvals of study lines offered by Danish universities and business schools – thus linking authority and responsibility directly to Parliament.
For obvious reasons the ministry is currently challenged by the increasing complexity and volume of the initiatives launched – especially when taking into consideration international demands from the future globalisation, requiring first-hand update on performance, content and quality.
Consequently, the Minister recently disclosed the initial step towards relaying the approval of general study lines (non-authorisation-lines) to international accreditation processes. By doing so, future access to collect public funding for universities and business schools will be subject to quality standards set and supervised by international accreditation agencies.
The implementation of above approval shift implies that the Danish universities are well under way to meet the GATS – globalisation demands, under guidance by the business school community, which is already in compliance with the international EQUIS accreditation standards.
This is a clear signal to authorities, universities and business schools, depending on traditional public / ministerial based approval systems, to make a move for the future by adapting to the conditions of the market for research based education: - identify relevant internationally operating accreditation agencies, and get going…
For further information it is recommended to check the EQUIS schedule, and definitely the European University Association, as will the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.
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