Panel
Accreditation as a tool for learning: what and how?
The panel explores whether accreditation could be used to encourage innovation in public administration education, specifically addressing two questions:
1) How could the accreditation process and/or standards be adapted to encourage innovation?
2) If this can be done, which types of innovations should be encouraged?
Important information
Panel does not accept external paper proposals.
Panelists:
Eka Akobia, Tblisi State University, Georgia
Calin Hintea, Babeş-Bolyai University, Romania
Diana Iancu, National School of Public Administration, Romania
Juraj Nemec, Masaryk University, Czech Republic
Lasha Margishvili, Deputy Director, National Center For Educational Quality Enhancement, Georgia
Mohamad Alkadry, NASPAA Vice President, University of Connecticut, United States
Register for 32nd NISPAcee Annual Conference 2024
Theme
Accreditation is often understood as a means to maintain minimal quality standards for education standards. What is less defined is its role in learning: helping programmes to innovate, for instance, by encouraging new didactical methods. The exchange of good practices is usually restricted to networking events around the process of accreditation, but not actually part of the process itself. On the one hand, remaining open to the choices of programmes is essential for accreditation agencies to avoid becoming dogmatic. On the other hand, it also means that evidence on the effectiveness of certain methods or approaches is not reflected in the quality standards. It also means that recommendations offered by site visit teams rest largely on the experience and preferences of individual committee members.
The panel explores whether accreditation could be used to encourage innovation in public administration education, specifically addressing two questions:
2) If this can be done, which types of innovations should be encouraged?
The panel will bring together representatives from the European Association for Public Administration Accreditation (EAPAA), NASPAA (the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration) and NISPACEE’s Working Group on Public Administration Education.