Comparative Analysis
National Board of Architectural Accreditation
What are the mission statement, goals, and objectives of your accreditation agency? Please share a short statement of how objectivity and integrity are assured in your accreditation system.
National Collegiate Architectural Education Accrediting Committee is set up, aiming at evaluating the quality of collegiate architectural education. The purpose of evaluating collegiate architectural education quality is to reinforce the macro-guidance and control of the country and trade over the architectural education, guarantee and improve its teaching quality and further implement the fundamental policy-education must serve the socialist construction.
The Accreditation Committee is a special organ, entrusted by National Education Commission and Ministry of Construction, to organize evaluation about national collegiate architectural education. The Committee also receives academic guidance from Architectural Society of China.
How do you achieve effectiveness in accreditation without unduly burdening the institution under review (issues of costs, time, and complexity)?
The fund of the Committee goes mainly to the application fee and accrediting fees of applicant colleges, financial aid from Ministry of Construction and auspices of the society. The Committee will decide on expenditure means.
How do you respect diversity of culture and mission of institutions under review while maintaining minimum standards for the profession?
The accrediting work includes three stages:
- Application and check: the Accrediting Committee decides whether to handle the application or not.
- Evaluation and result: the Accrediting Committee research on the self-assessment reports of applicant colleges, scheme out evaluation plan and daily visiting timetable, dispatch visiting team, examining visiting report and make final accrediting conclusion.
- Appeal and adjudication: colleges disagreeing with the accrediting conclusion are able to appeal. Receiving the appeal documents, the Accrediting Committee should report to the responsible education departments of Ministry of Construction for adjudication. The decision made by adjudication agency organized by Ministry of Construction is the final.
How does your agency inform itself about the needs of the profession, worldwide developments in the discipline of accreditation, and developments in education?
The Committee is composed of 15 to 17 members. One is from the Architectural Society of China, 6 to 7 are architectural experts, another 6 to 7 are senior architects and the last two are respectively from the related national construction and education departments in charge. The Accrediting Committee?s term of services is no more than four years and the members can only be selected twice. The Committee will decide its internal division and non-committee members such as architectural educators and architects can be employed to form temporary visiting, supervising, and consulting teams so as to improve the work. Foreign experts can also be invited for consultation when necessary.
In addition to the assessment of institutional resources and how they are allocated with respect to the institutional mission, how does your agency assess student performance criteria?
The professional architectural education accreditation visiting team will assess student performance outcomes by interviewing students, checking student?s study achievements, examining students and interviewing alumni.
How are your governance and secretariat functions organized to assure integrity and professionalism in the conduct of their operations?
There are one chairman, two deputy chairman and one secretary general in the NCAEAC. Members of the Accrediting Committee should avoid contacting the related schools and departments after receiving their self-assessment reports. The Accrediting Committee holds an annual meeting a year. The decision of the Committee is valid only when 2/3 of the members or above are present and half of the members agree on it. The Committee scheme out related evaluation standards, procedures and methods as well as guidance for the visiting team and regulations concerned. The Committee should summarize its accreditation and make necessary revision about related documents. Any increase, correction and annulment of the constitution?s clauses should be passed by the Committee and then put into force after approval of Ministry of Construction.
What are your mechanisms to insure that expertise and experience in the applications of standards, procedures, and values are present in members of visiting teams, commissions, and staff (please supply and organization chart)?
See organizational chart.