ADMINISTRATION AND REALIZATION OF SCHOOL, COLLEGE, AND NON-FORMAL EDUCATION ACCREDITATION CERTIFICATION
Abstract
Abstract: Educational accreditation serves as a key instrument for assuring quality, strengthening institutional accountability, and supporting continuous improvement across diverse educational settings. This study examines the governance, purposes, and implementation of accreditation in Indonesia, encompassing schools and madrasahs, higher education institutions, early childhood education, and non-formal education. Drawing on a literature-based approach, it analyses relevant regulations, accreditation guidelines, scholarly publications, and books on educational quality assurance. The analysis identifies accreditation as a process extending beyond formal certification to encompass institutional eligibility, quality assessment, public accountability, and the systematic identification of areas for improvement. Although accreditation arrangements differ across educational sectors and are administered by bodies with distinct mandates, they share core principles of objectivity, comprehensiveness, fairness, transparency, accountability, professionalism, and alignment with applicable national education standards. The process typically involves institutional self-evaluation, external assessment, verification and validation, accreditation decisions, certification, and recommendations for subsequent improvement. The study argues that accreditation is most meaningful when institutions treat self-evaluation as an ongoing exercise in evidence-based reflection rather than a procedural requirement undertaken solely to obtain accreditation status. Its contribution to sustainable educational quality therefore depends not only on assessment frameworks and regulatory oversight but also on institutional integrity, stakeholder participation, and the consistent use of evaluation findings to inform improvement strategies.
Keywords: Educational Accreditation; Quality Assurance; Institutional Accountability; Continuous Improvement; National Education Standards
References
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