FIBAA is a nationally as well as internationally experienced agency for quality assurance. Customer-oriented, efficient, fast and flexible work are some of its trademarks. It accredits according to the standards of the German Accreditation Council. FIBAA awards its Quality Seal to higher education institutions and programmes of high quality worldwide. Excellent performances, especially those that demonstrate a strong strategy-based and international profile, receive the FIBAA Premium Seal.
The task of quality assurance lies within the responsibility of higher education institutions. FIBAA supports them in achieving their self-defined objectives. It offers impulses for further quality development. It promotes quality and transparency in academic education by assessing Higher Education Institutions, Business Schools, study programmes and further study offers nationally and internationally based on international standards and regulations and by means of documenting and publishing the results.
FIBAA’s procedures on institutional level (system accreditation, institutional accreditation) are interdisciplinary; they are directed at all HEIs and other education providers. In the realm of programme accreditation procedures and certification procedures of academic continuing education courses FIBAA places particular emphasis on programmes in law, social and economic sciences as well as management qualification. As FIBAA’s advisory unit, FIBAA Consult supports higher education institutions and assists them in the development and implementation of their quality oriented strategies. FIBAA Consult conducts evaluation procedures according to individual objectives of higher education institutions and other academic institutions and offers workshops and seminars on current issues.
FIBAA bases its work on national and international requirements and standards. Particular attention is given to the European Standards and Guidelines (ESG) as well as to the promotion of practical relevance and employability.
Our experienced committee members, experts and employers possess comprehensive know-how in all questions of quality assurance and quality management. The results of their work are of benefit to the higher education institutions and other education providers, to students, prospective students, graduates, employers and other interested parties alike.
FIBAA’s close ties to science and economy, praxis orientation and internationality are reflected in the compilation of its foundation board and committees that decide on the requirements and the results of accreditation procedures, as well as in the expert panels. FIBAA meets the respective constitutional requirements.
(More detail…)
you are a public or private, state-recognised Higher Education Institution,
the study programmes to be accredited are in the field of management studies, economics, law or social sciences or have a focus on one of these fields,
you want to accredit your study programmes according to international quality standards and the principles of the Bologna Declaration.
an internationally recognised quality seal for your study programmes,
extensive and elaborated assessment reports, which highlight the strengths of the accredited study programmes and identify potential for their further development,
an outstanding expertise in the assessment of study programmes,
a special focus on internationality, employability, practical economic relevance and service orientation,
a service oriented, efficient and flexible procedure
A FIBAA accreditation gives you detailed information and provides you with objective evidence on the quality of your study programmes. We evaluate the following five key issues:
In all those areas we put a special focus on internationality, employability and economic relevance.
Our programme accreditation procedure can be conducted in German as well as in English.
Your Benefits
1. Internationally recognised quality seal
FIBAA is officially recognised as a European accreditation agency. Our understanding of quality is based on internationally recognised concepts and is also reflected in our Assessment Guide. With the quality seal of FIBAA you will achieve a recognised quality rating, which has established itself on the international education market as an award for high quality. Our differentiated assessment spectrum also gives you feedback on the particular strengths of your study programme.
2. Recommendations and incentives for the further development of your study programmes
You receive detailed assessment reports with clear recommendations on how to improve and further develop your study programmes. We want to support you in strengthening the profile of your programmes and integrate the latest developments in knowledge, the occupational field and didactics.
3. Specialist expertise
Our expertise lies in the accreditation of courses in the field of management studies, economics, law and the social sciences. Our experts are accomplished academics, experienced professionals, knowledgeable national experts and committed students. We also take the special didactic features and organisational requirements of face-to-face, distance, cooperative and executive programmes into account in our procedures and provide proven experts for these.
4. Internationality and business relevance
The special focus when awarding our FIBAA Quality Seal for Programmes is on internationality and business relevance. Consequently we assess the international approach of the programme, the intercultural and international content of the curriculum, the acquisition of professional skills, the integration of theory and practice and cooperation with businesses.
5. Long-term international experience
Since our establishment in 1994 we have accredited over 2,500 programmes not only at German, but also at a large number of other European and non-European Higher Education Institutions. These include Higher Education Institutions in France, Great Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Italy, Spain, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Albania, Northern Cyprus, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Jordan, India, China, Turkey, Namibia, Mexico and the USA.
6. User-friendliness
Direct links to all the sources of law, external standards and further documents and sample templates ensure comprehensive transparency and offer you the best possible assistance when satisfying the requirements of an accreditation.
7. Short duration of procedures
Our programme accreditation procedure takes on average six months with prior agreement from the submission of the self-evaluation report of the Higher Education Institution until the decision by our FIBAA Accreditation and Certification Committee. We would be delighted to agree an individual timetable with you.
8. Transparency
Transparency is of major importance to us. All our work processes and requirements are described clearly and published. Naturally we will support and inform you about every step of the procedure. By publishing our reports, prospective students, other Higher Education Institutions and employers will receive a competent and unequivocal assessment of the quality of your study programme.
9. FIBAA Premium Seal
We are the only accreditation agency that awards a Premium Seal for programme accreditations. We use this in particular to single out established programmes which have already registered graduates and display excellent quality. With this award we give prospective students, students, graduates, Higher Education Institutions and prospective employers reliable information about the excellent quality of the programme.
1. Application
You can submit your enquiry via our online form. We will always reply with an offer – tailor-made for your programme. Together with you we will determine the timetable for the accreditation procedure.
2. Your self-evaluation report
Our procedure is customer-oriented and flexible, and takes about nine months. Your self-evaluation report (incl. relevant annexes) is the first step. To ensure that you can prepare your self-evaluation report in a focused and complete manner, we support you with a detailed Assessment Guide for the accreditation of Bachelor and Master programmes as well as an Assessment Guide for the accreditation of Doctoral programmes.
3. Appointment of the review panel
For the procedure, we appoint a project manager and set up a review panel: Representatives from academia, professional practice and the student body. The team will be specially prepared and trained for your accreditation procedure.
4. On-Site visit
As soon as we receive your self-evaluation report for formal review, we will jointly set a date for the on-site visit. The on-site visit with informative dialogues and interviews usually takes two to three days. It can be conducted on-site, online or hybrid.
5. Compiling the assessment report
The review panel then prepares a comprehensive assessment report in which all quality requirements are documented in a comprehensible manner. The quality requirements are based on the Standards and guidelines for quality assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG).
6. Decision-making
You can write a statement on this assessment report. Both documents – the assessment report and your statement – will be submitted for final decision-making to the FIBAA Accreditation and Certification Committee F-ACC. The F-ACC decides on all programme accreditations in accordance with FIBAA quality requirements. If your programme exceeds the quality objectives of the evaluation criteria, we award you the FIBAA Premium Seal.
7. Publication
The assessment report with the decision of the FIBAA Accreditation and Certification Committee is published in the databases on FIBAA.org and DEQAR.eu (Database of External Quality Assurance Results). Finally, we recognise your achievement with our internationally respected certificate.
Throughout the accreditation process, we will be at your service – even in case of necessary improvement measures.
Read more about the Complaints procedure.
In order to support you with the accreditation procedure according to our international quality standards, we have developed an assessment guide for the accreditation of study programmes, which contains all relevant quality standards for bachelor and master programmes in form of questions and definitions of benchmarks. This document serves you as the basis for generating your self-evaluation report.
Our assessment guide is in line with the following quality standards:
Internal Meeting Document
Assessment Guide
Assessment Guide for the accreditation of Doctoral programmes by FIBAA (January 2023)
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Sample Documents
Checklists
Viktoria Dermanowski M.Sc. Phone: +49 (0) 228 280356 18 Fax: +49 (0) 228 280356 20 E-Mail: Dermanowski@fibaa.org Languages: German, English, Russisch
Germany Berliner Freiheit 20-24 53111 Bonn Phone: +49 228 – 280 356 0 E-Mail: info[@]fibaa.org
Switzerland: c/o economiesuisse | Verband der Schweizer Unternehmen Hegibachstrasse 47 CH-8032 Zurich