The Bhutan Accreditation Council (BAC) has accredited five tertiary-level educational institutes in the country. The institutes are Gaeddu College of Business Studies (GCBS), Samtse College of Education (SCE), Paro College of Education (PCE), Faculty of Nursing and Public Health, and Faculty of Traditional Medicines.
Accreditation or certification of tertiary institutes is mandatory as per the Accreditation Manual 2014 where colleges and institutes go through a process of evaluation and then graded.
The council gave away the certificates of accreditation to institutes in Thimphu yesterday. Grades for the colleges have been mentioned on the certificates which were based on six core standards.
The grades indicate the institute’s performance and also the validity of the certificates, with the best grades having the luxury of more period of validity. Once the validity expires, the institutes have to undergo the process again.
Accreditation of an institute ensures that standard quality of education is met and also helps to assess its own performances and identify ways for improvement.
The Quality Assurance and Accreditation Division of the Ministry of Education facilitates with the accreditation processes which are carried out by educational experts.
With yesterday’s accreditation, the BAC has now accredited six institutes in the country. The accreditation of 6 remaining institutes are expected to be complete by next year.
