Accreditation of in-company training provision: an overview of models and issues.

Accreditation is the formal recognition of learning achievements of an individual, linked to an internal or external standard. Professional accreditation involves meeting standards agreed by a particular sector’s governing body. In academe it is normal for qualifications and programmes to be credit-bearing; furthermore processes also
exist to award university credit for evidenced learning from both inside and outside the higher education institution. Therefore academic credits can be attached to
programmes delivered outside formal higher education award structures. Universities can utilise the accreditation process to confirm that an individual’s performance or
training at work, or indeed a training programme itself, conforms to standards that are agreed and approved by a higher education institution or a further education college.
Accreditation not only provides a quality assurance process of an assessed learning activity, but also enables the university to benefit from the opportunities to form new
external partnerships and confirms to learners that the programme of study is robust and of a high standard.