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American Accreditors Go Abroad
2007-08-04 13:28:08 来源：未知 |
They find growing demand from foreign institutions, but some worry about
imposing American standards on other cultures
By BURTON BOLLAG
Evaluators sent by accrediting organizations to measure how well colleges
adhere to standards usually take with them a notepad and an open mind.
Increasingly they must pack something else -- a passport.
Although the numbers are still small, American groups are accrediting a
growing number of institutions and programs outside the United States. Many
of the foreign institutions are American-style, often sporting the word
"American" in their names.
Among those seeking accreditation: the entire public higher-education system
of the United Arab Emirates, an oil-rich country in the Middle East that is
becoming an educational powerhouse.
The trend is posing new challenges for American accreditors, who are
cautiously testing how broadly their standards can be applied in foreign
countries. They insist they don’t want to be "the world’s accreditor," but
some educators say the development has already gone too far.
Philip G. Altbach, director of the Center for International Higher Education
at Boston College, calls the growing trend "academic neo-colonialism." Using
American standards to evaluate institutions in other nations may serve some
countries well, he says, but the move "ends up imposing norms and values"
that may not suit other countries’ educational needs.
"It shouldn’t be assumed," he adds, "that the gold standard for everything
is here."
The Council for Higher Education Accreditation, which represents most of the
approximately 80 recognized accrediting bodies in the United States,
surveyed its members on their international activities in 2003. The poll
revealed that 25 organizations had accredited 222 foreign institutions or
programs operating outside the United States.
The demand reflects the prestige that the imprimatur of an American
accreditor lends to overseas institutions in an increasingly competitive
marketplace. U.S.-accredited institutions abroad hope that their graduates
will have an advantage when enrolling for further study in an American
institution. And accreditation makes it easier for foreign institutions to
become study-abroad destinations for American students, who can then more
easily transfer credits back home.
The trend is also a reflection of the weakness, or lack, of mechanisms to
ensure the quality of higher education in most parts of the world. America’s
widely respected accreditation system, based on peer review and carried out
by nonprofit, private organizations, is unique. What certification there is
in other countries is, in almost all cases, carried out by governments.
"We’re the only country that can export accreditation," says Judith S.
Eaton, the council’s president. "But some countries are concerned about
being dominated by the U.S."
In recent years, says Ms. Eaton, there have been several complaints by
higher-education authorities in developing countries about American
accreditors, invited by a local institution, waltzing into their territory
as if they owned the place.
Foreign Officials Angered
But overseas demand appears stronger than ever. "We have inquiries from
people literally all over the world," says Jean Avnet Morse, executive
director of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools’
Commission on Higher Education.
Of 503 institutions accredited by Middle States, 10 are abroad, in Britain,
Canada, Egypt, France, Hungary, Italy, Lebanon, Switzerland, and the United
Arab Emirates. Six became accredited only within the last two years. The
accreditor used to accept only foreign institutions incorporated in the
region it covers: six Eastern states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico,
and the U.S. Virgin Islands. But it dropped that condition under a new pilot
program. Generally today there are no geographical criteria as to which U.S.
accreditor can certify which foreign institutions.
Accreditors are also dropping a clear preference for "American style"
foreign institutions that teach in English. "We have a database of 4,000
people with language skills" who can be sent as evaluators for foreign
institutions, says Ms. Morse.
When American accreditors go abroad, it is often unclear what privileges and
obligations they have. Ms. Morse says Middle States makes every effort to
cooperate with higher-education authorities in countries where the
association operates.
Even so, foreign officials have occasionally been angered. Middle States
accredited the American University of Sharjah, a private institution in the
United Arab Emirates, in 2004. Toward the end of the accreditation process,
the association received a letter of complaint from that country’s Ministry
of Education. Officials there were peeved that they were not informed when
the accreditor sent a team to carry out the institution’s final evaluation,
and that the accreditor’s report contained scathing criticism of what the
American body saw as overly burdensome requirements imposed by the emirates’
own Commission for Academic Accreditation. (That complaint did not stop the
country from applying to Middle States last year for accreditation of Zayed
University, a public institution for women.)
A set of principles for U.S. accreditors operating abroad, issued in 2001 by
the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, says that American bodies
should "inform, consult, and cooperate with national quality-assurance
agencies" and seek information and guidance from them.
American accrediting bodies say the growing internationalization of higher
education is what is pushing them, sometimes reluctantly, beyond U.S.
borders. Considering the complications of operating in a foreign educational
environment and sometimes working with administrators who speak English
poorly, "there are more reasons not to do it, than to do it," says Ralph A.
Wolff, executive director of the Western Association of Schools and
Colleges’ Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities.
But, he says, many of the U.S. institutions his organization certifies have
requested it. "Many have relations with institutions outside the United
States," he notes, "and would like to have partners with U.S.
accreditation."
Institutions are increasingly making partnerships, and recruiting, across
borders, says Madeleine F. Green, vice president for international projects
at the American Council on Education. "As the world gets more connected,"
she says, "the whole question of what is the quality of a foreign
institution -- and is their degree any good -- becomes more important."
Clear Benefits
For foreign institutions, certification by an American accreditor often
brings clear benefits. Central European University, a well-endowed
institution established in 1991 in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, by the
financier and philanthropist George Soros, won accreditation from Middle
States last year.
Liviu Matei, the university’s academic secretary, was in charge of the
six-year accreditation process. Just like American institutions undergoing
accreditation, Central European had to produce a major self-study. During
that period, says Mr. Matei, the university introduced a number of
improvements, including a code of ethics, a policy against sexual
harassment, a system to assess the results of learning, and an alumni
office.
"Many of the changes were implemented after being stimulated, if not
required, by the accreditor," he says. "There is a shared feeling among CEU
staff that this has been very useful."
Accreditation makes an institution stand out in an increasingly crowded
marketplace. "It’s a great marketing ploy," says Erik O. Nielsen, president
of Franklin College Switzerland, an American-style institution outside
Lugano. Franklin has been accredited by Middle States since 1975.
Abdallah A. Sfeir, vice president for academic affairs at Lebanese American
University, in Beirut, adds: "There are a whole lot of institutions
springing up in Lebanon and the region with no regard to quality. If you
want to project an image of quality, you must be accredited." Lebanese
American is getting there, slowly.
Seven months into the accreditation process, Middle States pulled out,
citing continued U.S. travel warnings for Lebanon. The institution had to
start over with another accreditor, the New England Association of Schools
and Colleges.
It is not only the accreditors certifying whole institutions that operate
abroad. An even faster-growing trend, says Marjorie Peace Lenn, executive
director of the Center for Quality Assurance in International Education, is
the American accreditation of specialized professional schools and programs
in foreign countries.
It is fueled in part, she says, by regional trade agreements, "which are
moving into developing common professional standards," even while many
countries lack systems to evaluate whether professional training programs
meet the standards.
George D. Peterson, executive director of ABET, the American accreditor for
engineering, computing, and technology programs, agrees. "Engineering
companies operate all over the world," he says. "They want to be sure that
graduates from other countries are of the same quality as those who graduate
from an American institution."
The organization has recognized some 50 degree programs in a dozen countries
as "substantially equivalent" to accredited programs in the United States,
meaning they produce comparable educational outcomes but may differ in
format or method of delivery. Most were recognized in the last five years.
ABET’s actions, in turn, are putting pressure on other specialized
accreditors. The National Architectural Accrediting Board has decided not to
recognize programs outside the United States for the time being. But Sharon
C. Matthews, its executive director, sees a "pretty predictable" pattern
developing. When ABET starts working with engineering schools in a country,
"the architectural programs call us and want to be accredited too." The
architectural board is exploring the idea of also certifying "substantial
equivalency" abroad.
Misgivings About Quality
While overseas demand is growing for accreditation from the United States or
a few other countries with a reputation for strength in higher education,
some foreign officials are moving to counter the trend. Last year South
Africa completed a national review of 27 business schools in the country
that offer M.B.A.’s. It found that seven of them did not meet minimum
standards, even though several of the seven were accredited by the
British-based International Association of M.B.A.’s.
Prem Naidoo, deputy executive director of the Higher Education Quality
Committee of South Africa, which carried out the review, says the results
were a confirmation that foreign accreditors may lack an adequate
understanding of local social, economic, and educational conditions.
"They may have skills to share," says Mr. Naidoo of foreign accrediting
bodies, "but I don’t think they can fit the needs of the country."
What about other African countries, most of which, unlike South Africa, have
virtually no local capacity to evaluate quality? "The first priority," says
Mr. Naidoo, "is to develop national quality-assurance agencies."
That goal is increasingly shared internationally. Quality assurance is a
broad concept, going from relatively simple tests of whether an institution
meets minimum standards to the in-depth self-study and outside peer review
at the heart of U.S. accreditation.
Unesco and other international organizations have stepped up efforts in
recent years to help developing countries build up local quality-assurance.
A number of U.S. accrediting bodies are helping too.
According to Ms. Lenn of the Center for Quality Assurance, in 1991 only six
countries had some sort of national quality-assurance agency for higher
education. Today about 80 do.
That still leaves a majority of countries with no such capacity. And, say
observers, many of the agencies that do exist are still not very effective,
leaving a strong demand for American accreditation.
Many officials say the long-term goal is mutual recognition of national
accreditation. However, American higher-education institutions will only
recognize the accreditation conferred by a foreign agency if they are
convinced that the agency has similar standards, and the same ability to
enforce them, as its American counterparts.
One such agreement exists. Under the 1989 Washington Accord, accreditors of
engineering programs from nine developed countries, including the United
States, accept accreditation conferred by any member of the pact. Other
specialized accreditors see the agreement as a model.
Pressure From Abroad
Meanwhile, as foreign demand for U.S. accreditation continues to grow,
American accreditors are feeling more and more pressure to take candidates
from abroad. Of the six big regional accrediting bodies, which together
accredit just over 3,000 institutions in the United States, only the North
Central Association of Colleges and Schools, and the community-college
commission of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, do not
accredit foreign institutions.
"We don’t believe our standards and practices would apply to institutions
that are based on other cultural values," says Barbara A. Beno, executive
director of the Western Association’s community-college commission. She says
that the Asian institutions her commission would consider accrediting
typically have a much weaker commitment than American institutions to such
concepts as academic freedom and institutional openness.
The other regional bodies each say they are unsure of how extensively to
accredit abroad, and continue studying the question.
All in all, says Sandra E. Elman, executive director of the Northwest
Commission on Colleges and Universities, the question remains "very
polemical." Her organization decided only in 2003 to take applications from
foreign countries.
"One has to be very cautious and not compromise one’s criteria and
standards," she says.
Ms. Lenn, of the Center for Quality Assurance, expects overseas
accreditation by American groups to continue to grow hand in hand with the
development of national quality-assurance. "The whole point is having
world-class standards," she says.
http://chronicle.com
FOREIGN INSTITUTIONS CERTIFIED BY U.S. ACCREDITORS
The following institutions outside the United States are accredited by
American regional organizations. All are private and nonprofit, unless
otherwise indicated.
Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools’ Commission on Higher
Education:
American University in Cairo
American University of Beirut (Lebanon)
American University of Paris
American University of Sharjah (United Arab Emirates)
Athabasca University (Canada) (public)
Central European University (Budapest)
Franklin College Switzerland (Sorengo, Switzerland)
John Cabot University (Rome)
Open University (Milton Keynes, England) (public)
Richmond, the American International University in London
New England Association of Schools and Colleges’ Commission on Institutions
of Higher Education, and Commission on Technical and Career Institutions:
American College of Thessaloniki (Greece)
American University in Bulgaria (Blagoevgrad)
Deree College (Athens)
Lausanne Hotel School (Switzerland)
Glion Institute of Higher Education (Switzerland) (for-profit)
Hotel Management School, "Les Roches" (Valais, Switzerland) (for-profit)
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools’ Commission on Colleges:
University of the Americas (Puebla, Mexico)
Central American Institute of Business Administration (Alajuela, Costa Rica)
Technological Institute of Monterrey (Mexico)
University of Monterrey (Mexico)
University of the Americas (Mexico City)
Western Association of Schools and Colleges’ Accrediting Commission for
Senior Colleges and Universities:
Northern Marianas College (Saipan) (public)
United States International University (Nairobi, Kenya)
SOURCE: Accrediting associations
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