The work of a National Accreditation Council is no small task since, among other things, it includes ensuring that only the right institutions are registered and the appropriate ones are accredited.ACTT Director, Curtis FloydThis notion was recently amplified by Director of the Accreditation Council of Trinidad and Tobago (ACTT), Curtis Floyd, when he facilitated a quality assurance workshop aimed at helping to improve the accreditation process in Guyana.And according to Floyd there is a distinct difference between the process of registration and accreditation. The process of registration, he explained, entails site visits by officials of the national accreditation council who are required to craft a report based on their findings.In that report, the officials are expected to indicate whether or not they are satisfied based on their review, that the institution has met the standard required for registration.Alluding to the work of the ACTT Floyd said that “once this report is submitted to us at the Council it is then forwarded to the Board (of Directors) for final decision because in the Site Visit Report, the evaluators can make recommendations as to whether or not registration will be granted to the institution.”And according to the ACTT Director, institutions in Trinidad for instance, can be registered for a period of one, two or three years. However, if it is observed that an institution is not meeting the required standard its candidacy is extended where it is given an opportunity to come up to standard.Registration deals with the institution showing that it has basic requirements to be able to operate as a post-secondary and tertiary institution. Floyd noted though that registration, as opposed to accreditation is mandatory. As such, accreditation is a voluntary process.With accreditation, Floyd said that there is a lot more in-depth examination of an institution, a process that can take as much as two years to be completed. “It really shows how well all of these systems, that the institution has in place, are working,” said the ACTT Director.He disclosed that Trinidad has nine institutions that are accredited and there are five that are candidates for accreditation, that is, they have indicated their interest and they are now going through the process of accreditation. The latter institutions, he explained, are now going through the process of accreditation and “we have a few other institutions who have indicated their intentions to seek accreditation.”According to Floyd, accreditation is a status that some institutions desire since it allows them to be recognised internationally thus worthy of pursuing.According to the Director too, institutions that are applying for accreditation must be offering a locally developed programme that is approved by the national accreditation council and they must have graduated at least one cohort from that locally developed programme.“We cannot accredit somebody else’s qualifications from outside…the accreditation has to take place within the jurisdiction from where the programme emanated,” added Floyd,Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys China, who pointed out that “we can recognise other people’s qualifications but we accredit only those institutions locally.”The ACTT commenced its operation in 2005 and has approved programmes from both public and private institutions. These include programmes ranging from certificates to Doctorate awards.The ACTT also deals with trans-national recognition and statements on recognitions whereby individuals seeking to find out about the qualification that they have acquired or that they intend to pursue can approach the Council for help.In this regard the Council can verify if the programme is legitimate or if it is merely the product of a diploma mill.
