Swiss Agency of Accreditation and Quality Assurance (AAQ) (''formerly:'' Swiss Center of Accreditation and Quality Assurance in Higher Education or OAQ) ( French: Organe d'accréditation et d'assurance qualité des hautes écoles suisses) is an organization that carries out institutional accreditation procedures in ''Swiss higher education institutions in accordance with the Federal Act on Funding and Coordination of the Higher Education Sector (HEdA)''. AAQ is responsible for reviewing the quality of teaching and research in ''Swiss Universities'', ''Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences'' and ''Swiss Universities of Teacher Education''. It carries out quality assurance of education and internal services procedures. When accrediting an institution, AAQ follows the procedures in accordance with the guidelines approved by the

Swiss University Conference The Swiss University Conference (SUC) is the joint organisation of the canton (country subdivision), cantons and the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation for university coordination and quality control. Formal basis and history The legal basis fo ...

(SUC).

History

Founded in 2001, the OAQ was renamed Agency for Accreditation and Quality Assurance (AAQ), as a consequence of the entry into force of the Federal Act on Funding and Coordination of the Swiss Higher Education Sector (Higher Education Act, HEdA 414.20) on January 1, 2015. *2001: Official creation of the OAQ. OAQ was part of the Swiss Accreditation Council (SAR) which selected the director of the OAQ. *2006: OAQ was granted full membership of the

European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education The European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA), formerly the European Network for Quality Assurance in Higher Education, was established as an organization to represent quality assurance and accreditation organisations ...

(ENQA) in December. *2007: Agreement on mutual recognition of accreditation results between the Commission des titres d'Ingénieur (CTI) and the Swiss Center of Accreditation and Quality Assurance in Higher Education (OAQ) is signed in Barcelona. *2011: ENQA's committee renews OAQ membership. *2015: OAQ is renamed AAQ.

International recognition

AAQ is a member of the

ENQA The European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA), formerly the European Network for Quality Assurance in Higher Education, was established as an organization to represent quality assurance and accreditation organisations ...

. The latest external review of the AAQ for the renewal of the agency's ENQA membership and renewal of EQAR registration was undertaken in November 2020. It is part of the founding members of ECA and listed by the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR).

Standard procedure

OAQ's evaluation and accreditation procedures are made out of 3 main steps being Auto-evaluation, External evaluation and Publication.

References

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External links

AAQ Website
Education in Switzerland