Abstract

VALENCIA BONILLA, María Beatriz; CORREA HINCAPIE, Natalia  and  GUERRA BRETANA, Rosa Mayelin. Synergies between institutional accreditation in higher education and certification of management systems. UH [online]. 2022, n.295  Epub Dec 01, 2022. ISSN 0253-9276.

To guarantee quality in Higher Education, sectoral models that allow the accreditation of institutions, as well as quality management systems based on internationally recognized standards, such as ISO 9001 series, are used. The ISO 21001 standard published in 2018, for the first time establishes specific requirements of management systems for educational organizations. Thus, the following questions arise: how are high-quality accreditation sectoral models related to each other with management system certification schemes? What benefits and difficulties can the implementation of both models brings? The objective of this work is to answer these questions. To do this, the points of contact and the existing differences between the models are analyzed, as well as published experiences on the subject of study. The analysis carried out shows that there are synergies between both models, and that the implementation of the standardized management systems contributes in an integral way to the achievement of the institutional objectives and the satisfaction of the interested parties. In addition, when the requirements established in the sectoral models are incorporated in a coherent manner in the management system, it contributes to high-quality accreditation in Higher Education institutions in Colombia.

Keywords : accreditation; quality in higher education; management systems certification.