Adaptations to re-accreditation visits due to COVID-19 pandemic (posted 18 November 2020)
COVID-19 consequences
The current novel Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic impacts the work and daily life of everyone involved in higher education at the moment. We are ready to support our members in the challenges they are currently facing where we can.
Reassurance is offered to ECCE members that compliance to the constitution will not be jeopardised by the suspension or adaption of their regular external quality assurance activities.
We are continuing to coordinate reaccreditations of programmes and programmes that are currently undergoing reaccreditation have been contacted in order to adapt the timelines where necessary, particularly in relation to the postponement of site visits.
The postponement of reaccreditation processes or transfer to online reaccreditations in this situation is fully permissible under the constitution and ECCE encourages its members to offer flexibility for higher education institutions in this regard.
Questions about accredited programmes operations
ECCE accredited programmes are currently facing the challenge to continue their operations under “lock-down conditions” and with activities of most higher education institutions in Europe and South Africa suspended or moved partially online. We wish to encourage accredited programmes to respond flexibly to the situation. ECCE wishes to assure programmes that your accreditation will not be jeopardised resulting from any suspension or adaptation of your activities as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
We believe that the guiding principle should be to best support higher education institutions to master the extraordinary challenges they are currently facing and to sustain quality of their education provision through these times. In the following, we provide answers to specific questions as to the compliance with the Standards and ECCE accreditation:
How should we handle the ECCE requirement to have site visits?
A site visit to the institution/programme under review is normally required in an ECCE-compliant external quality assurance process. In the current situation and during the time where site visits cannot actually be organised, it is perfectly acceptable to replace site visits by video conferences or other appropriate formats, to be determined by ECCE. Alternatively, site visits could be postponed to a later time if that is possible.
Can we prolong accreditation/validity periods?
If ECCE concludes that the best approach to the current situation is to extend the validity periods of accreditations to expire shortly (e.g. in order to postpone site visits and re-accreditation decisions), this will be considered reasonable and acceptable. If such decisions are taken, please remember to update the affected records in the AMoR in order to avoid any uncertainty
What happens if meetings, trainings or other activities are postponed or moved online?
If meetings are postponed to be held in physical form later, such a delay would not be held against an institution/programme. While trainings for experts are usually physical meetings, it is perfectly acceptable to replace those by virtual arrangements if needed under current conditions.
Do we need to make a substantive change report if we adapt our activities?
We do not expect a substantive change report for temporary adaptations of your external quality assurance activities that are a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. We do however recommend that you document any such changes so that they can be explained in a future reaccreditation of the programme, if necessary. If you make permanent adaptations beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, please report them as usual.
NEWS
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Constitution and Policies Documents - posted 31/1/23
Please note, the Constitution and Policies documents are undergoing a revision. They will be presented to the General Council at the next meeting in March 2023. Once approved, they will be published on our website.
Durban University of Technology (DUT) - posted 14/12/22
The Quality Assurance and Accreditation Committee (QAAC) is pleased to confirm the re-accreditation of the MChiro for the period of 5 years (until 2027).
Congratulations to all staff and students at DUT.
AECC University College Evaluation Result - posted 29/11/22
The Quality Assurance and Accreditation Committee (QAAC), of the European Council on Chiropractic Education is pleased to confirm the re-accreditation of the MChiro for the maximum period of 8 years (until September 2029). Congratulations to all at AECC University College.
Barcelona College of Chiropractic Evaluation Result
ECCE is delighted to announce that the Quality Assurance and Accreditation Committee, at its meeting on 14 May 2021, decided to re-accredit the chiropractic programme at the Barcelona College of Chiropractic for a maximum period of 8 years (until January 2029). Congratulations to all at the College.
University of South Denmark Evaluation Result
ECCE is delighted to announce that the Quality Assurance and Accreditation Committee, at its meeting on 14 May 2021, decided to re-accredit the chiropractic programme at the University of South Denmark for a maximum period of 8 years (until February 2029). Congratulations to all at the University.
University of South Wales (WIOC) Evaluation Result
ECCE is delighted to announce that the Quality Assurance and Accreditation Committee, at its meeting on 10 February 2021, decided to re-accredit the chiropractic programme at the University of South Wales (WIOC) for a maximum period of 8 years (until November 2028). Congratulations to all at the University.
University of Zurich Evaluation Result
ECCE is delighted to announce that the Quality Assurance and Accreditation Committee, at its meeting on 10 February 2021, decided to re-accredit the chiropractic programme at the University of Zurich for a period of 5 years (until March 2026). Congratulations to all at the University.