Accreditation
Encyclopedia
Certification
Certification refers to the confirmation of certain characteristics of an object, person, or organization. This confirmation is often, but not always, provided by some form of external review, education, assessment, or audit...
of competency, authority, or credibility is presented.
Organizations that issue credential
Credential
A credential is an attestation of qualification, competence, or authority issued to an individual by a third party with a relevant or de facto authority or assumed competence to do so....
s or certify third parties against official standards are themselves formally accredited by accreditation bodies (such as UKAS); hence they are sometimes known as "accredited certification bodies". The accreditation process ensures that their certification practices are acceptable, typically meaning that they are competent to test and certify third parties, behave ethically and employ suitable quality assurance
Quality Assurance
Quality assurance, or QA for short, is the systematic monitoring and evaluation of the various aspects of a project, service or facility to maximize the probability that minimum standards of quality are being attained by the production process...
.
One example of accreditation is the accreditation of testing
Test method
A test method is a definitive procedure that produces a test result.A test can be considered as technical operation that consists of determination of one or more characteristics of a given product, process or service according to a specified procedure. Often a test is part of an experiment.The test...
laboratories
Laboratory
A laboratory is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. The title of laboratory is also used for certain other facilities where the processes or equipment used are similar to those in scientific laboratories...
and certification specialists that are permitted to issue official certificates of compliance with established technical standards, such as physical
Physical property
A physical property is any property that is measurable whose value describes a physical system's state. The changes in the physical properties of a system can be used to describe its transformations ....
, chemical
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
, forensic, quality, and security
Security
Security is the degree of protection against danger, damage, loss, and crime. Security as a form of protection are structures and processes that provide or improve security as a condition. The Institute for Security and Open Methodologies in the OSSTMM 3 defines security as "a form of protection...
standards..
Accreditation bodies in these fields usually operate according to ISO/IEC 17011. Accredited entities in specific sectors must provide evidence to the accreditation body that they conform to other standards in the same series:
- BS EN ISO/IEC 17020: "General criteria for the operation of various types of bodies performing inspection" (2004)
- BS EN ISO/IEC 17021: "Conformity assessment. Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems" (2011)
- BS EN ISO/IEC 17024: "Conformity Assessment. General requirements for bodies operating certification of persons" (2003)
- BS EN ISO/IEC 17025: "General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories" (2005)
Fields that involve accreditation
Accreditation processes are used in a wide variety of fields:- Accredited Equine Business Professional Member - EBPM
- Accredited investorAccredited investorAccredited investor is a term defined by various securities laws that delineates investors permitted to invest in certain types of higher risk investments including seed money, limited partnerships, hedge funds, and angel investor networks...
- Accredited in Public Relations
- Accredited RegistrarAccredited RegistrarAn accredited registrar, also called an Accredited Certification Body , is an organization accredited by a recognized accrediting body for its competence to audit and issue certification confirming that an organization meets the requirements of a standard...
- Diplomatic accreditationDiplomatic accreditationDiplomatic accreditation is the process in which an ambassador is certified as one country's official representative to another.Accreditation occurs when a new ambassador presents "letters of credence", or credentials, to the host country's head of state...
- Educational accreditationEducational accreditationEducational accreditation is a type of quality assurance process under which services and operations of educational institutions or programs are evaluated by an external body to determine if applicable standards are met...
- Higher education accreditationHigher education accreditationHigher education accreditation is a type of quality assurance process under which services and operations of post-secondary educational institutions or programs are evaluated by an external body to determine if applicable standards are met...
- List of recognized higher education accreditation organizations
- List of unrecognized higher education accreditation organizations
- Accreditation millAccreditation millAn accreditation mill is an organization that purports to award educational accreditation to higher education institutions without having government authority or recognition from mainstream academia to operate as an accreditor. Implicit in the terminology is the assumption that the "mill" has low...
- List of unaccredited institutions of higher learning
- Accreditation mill
- Pre-tertiary education accreditationPre-tertiary education accreditationPre-tertiary-education accreditation is a type of quality assurance process under which services and operations of pre-tertiary schools and educational institutions or programs are evaluated by an external body to determine if applicable standards are met....
- Higher education accreditation
- Email sender accreditation
- Healthcare
- Accreditation Commission for Health CareAccreditation Commission for Health CareThe Accreditation Commission for Health Care is a US non-profit health care accrediting organization. It represents an alternative to the Joint Commission....
- International healthcare accreditationInternational healthcare accreditationDue to the near-universal desire for quality healthcare, there is a growing interest in international healthcare accreditation. Providing healthcare, especially of an adequate standard, is a complex and challenging process...
- Hospital accreditationHospital accreditationHospital accreditation has been defined as “A self-assessment and external peer assessment process used by health care organizations to accurately assess their level of performance in relation to established standards and to implement ways to continuously improve”...
- Joint Commission
- QHA Trent AccreditationQHA Trent AccreditationQHA Trent Accreditation is a United Kingdom-based independent holistic accreditation scheme for hospitals and clinics that functions worldwide. It represents an option for healthcare providers to international accreditation schemes such as Joint Commission International from the USA...
- United Kingdom Accreditation ForumUnited Kingdom Accreditation ForumFounded in June 1998 by a group of leading healthcare accreditation organisations, the United Kingdom Accreditation Forum is a London-based network of healthcare accreditation organisations formed with the intention of sharing experience regarding good practice in accreditation, as well as sharing...
- Accreditation Commission for Health Care
- Information AssuranceInformation AssuranceInformation assurance is the practice of managing risks related to the use, processing, storage, and transmission of information or data and the systems and processes used for those purposes...
- Personal trainer accreditationPersonal Trainer AccreditationPersonal trainer accreditation is a process by which certification of competency as a personal trainer may be obtained.- Qualification Credit Framework :...
- Professional certificationProfessional certificationProfessional certification, trade certification, or professional designation, often called simply certification or qualification, is a designation earned by a person to assure qualification to perform a job or task...
- Systems EngineeringSystems engineeringSystems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering that focuses on how complex engineering projects should be designed and managed over the life cycle of the project. Issues such as logistics, the coordination of different teams, and automatic control of machinery become more...
- Translating and InterpretingInterpretingLanguage interpretation is the facilitating of oral or sign-language communication, either simultaneously or consecutively, between users of different languages...
- National Accreditation Authority for Translators and InterpretersNational Accreditation Authority for Translators and InterpretersThe National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters Ltd is the national standards and accreditation body for translators and interpreters in Australia. It is the only agency that issues accreditations for practitioners who wish to work in this profession in Australia...
(Australia)
- National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters
See also
- Accreditation Council (disambiguation)
- AuthenticationAuthenticationAuthentication is the act of confirming the truth of an attribute of a datum or entity...
- CertificationCertificationCertification refers to the confirmation of certain characteristics of an object, person, or organization. This confirmation is often, but not always, provided by some form of external review, education, assessment, or audit...
- Verification and ValidationVerification and ValidationIn software project management, software testing, and software engineering, verification and validation is the process of checking that a software system meets specifications and that it fulfills its intended purpose...
- HomologationHomologationHomologation is a technical term, derived from the Greek homologeo for "to agree", which is generally used in English to signify the granting of approval by an official authority...
- International Laboratory Accreditation CooperationInternational Laboratory Accreditation CooperationThe International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation or ILAC started as a conference in 1977 with the aim of developing international cooperation for facilitating trade by promotion of the acceptance of accredited test and calibration results...
- Quality assuranceQuality AssuranceQuality assurance, or QA for short, is the systematic monitoring and evaluation of the various aspects of a project, service or facility to maximize the probability that minimum standards of quality are being attained by the production process...
- Quality infrastructureQuality infrastructureQuality infrastructure relates to all fields of metrology, standardization and testing, of quality management and conformity assessment, including certification and accreditation...
- Standards organizationStandards organizationA standards organization, standards body, standards developing organization , or standards setting organization is any organization whose primary activities are developing, coordinating, promulgating, revising, amending, reissuing, interpreting, or otherwise producing technical standards that are...
- Deutsches Institut für BautechnikDeutsches Institut für BautechnikDeutsches Institut für Bautechnik may be translated as German Institute for Civil Engineering, however, the institute officially does not approve of any translation of its name and wishes to be called only by its original German name. It is an agency of the German , with an office building in Berlin...
- Department of Defence Information Assurance Certification and Accreditation Process
External links
- ANSI Accreditation Programs
- European co-operation for Accreditation - a member of International Laboratory Accreditation CooperationInternational Laboratory Accreditation CooperationThe International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation or ILAC started as a conference in 1977 with the aim of developing international cooperation for facilitating trade by promotion of the acceptance of accredited test and calibration results...
- International Accreditation Service - a subsidiary of International Code CouncilInternational code councilThe International Code Council , a membership association dedicated to building safety, fire prevention and energy efficiency, develops the codes used to construct residential and commercial buildings, including homes and schools. Most U.S. cities, counties and states that adopt codes choose the...
- International Organic Accreditation Service
- Analytic Quality Glossary: Accreditation
- European co-operation for Accreditation
- APA Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation
- sieps.ch Information Services on Swiss Private Schools and Universities
- Standards for Educational Advancement & Accreditation SEAA Trust India