The Danish Accreditation Institution plays a crucial part in ensuring the quality and relevance of higher education programmes across the country. Through accreditations and dissemination of knowledge about transversal topics linked to higher education, we aim to support the enhancement of educational quality in the higher education sector and to help create a more coherent and transparent education market.
Who we are
The Danish Accreditation Institution is an academically independent authority within the state administration. We were established with the enactment of the 2013 Act on the Accreditation of Institutions of Higher Education.
Our core purpose is to contribute to the assurance and enhancement of quality at Danish higher education through accreditation of institutions and a limited amount of either new programmes that the institutions wish to establish or existing programmes. This is done as a part of Denmark’s fulfillment of the intergovernmental European co-operation defined by the Bologna process’s standards and guidelines for higher education and the quality assurance of these.
What we do
Denmark has a bipartite accreditation system. The Danish Accreditation Institution is responsible for conducting the accreditation processes and development of the method they follow. The decision-making is the responsibility of the Accreditation Council.
Based on a statutory set of criteria, we uncover the quality assurance work of a specific higher education institution through each accreditation process. The focus is on whether the institution has a quality assurance system that is well-described and efficient. It also focusses on whether the institution’s quality assurance work in practice assures and enhances the quality of its programmes.
We work in close coorporation with an expert panel that we recruit and train for each accreditation process. Altogether, the experts in the panel possess profound insight into the higher education sector in general and into quality assurance internationally.
The process results in an accreditation report on the individual programme or the entire education institution that is handed over to the Accreditation Council. Based the report, the council makes a decision on accreditation.
All reports and decisions are freely available from the Accreditation Council’s website.
Read more about accreditation in Denmark
The Danish accreditation system was introduced by law in 2007. In the first years, ACE Denmark was responsible for carrying out processes and preparing accreditation reports for the university area and for secretarial services for the Accreditation Council. The accreditation process and preparation of reports for other higher education programmes was the responsibility of Denmark’s Evaluation Institute (EVA).
With the Accreditation Act from 2013, ACE Denmark was transferred tasks and employees from EVA and changed its name to the Danish Accreditation Institution. At the same time, the transition began from programme- to institutional accreditation.
Mission
Vision
The quality assurance policy is the Danish Accreditation Institution’s overall tool to ensure and develop high quality in our key activities.
Our organization comprises a director and four units that are entrusted with the following tasks:
Management secretariat and Communications
- Assists the other secretariats with their work
- Manages finances
- Handles internal and external communication and dealings with the media
The area for Professional, Vocational and Maritime Institutions (PEM)
- Handles the accreditation of new and existing programmes and local provisions of programmes within the area.
- Handles the accreditation of university colleges, academies of professional higher education and maritime education institutions.
- Takes part in Danish and international cooperation and development projects.
- Documents and communicates activities and results.
The area for Universities and Educational Institutions of Arts and Culture (UNIK)
- Handles the accreditation of new and existing programmes within the area.
- Handles the accreditation of universities and art academies.
- Takes part in Danish and international cooperation and development projects.
- Documents and communicates activities and results.
Council Management and Analysis
- Serves the Accreditation Council in connection with meetings and decisions
- Is responsible for the Council’s communication with the Accreditation Institution and other operators
- Produces transversal analyses of the education area
- Coordinates the Danish Accreditation Institution’s use of key statistics
- Handles legal matters
- Is responsible for the Accreditation Institution’s accreditation database and the Council’s decision database