Arab Educational Information Network

This chapter explores the meaning of functional independence and its importance in making accreditation decisions and conducting other external quality-assurance (EQA) review processes in higher-education institutions and their offerings. Specifically, the chapter will include sections on why, in an increasingly global market place, EQA organizations must be able to demonstrate functional independence from undue political/government influences and professional guilds through a careful structuring of their review and decision-making processes. The chapter will further explore how EQA organizations can ensure functional independence through the establishment of written policy statements that safeguard the independence of their 1) standards-setting activities; 2) decision-making activities; 3) review processes conducted by staff and on-site reviewers; and 4) policies and procedural practices established by the members of the decision-making body. (Author’s abstract)