Accreditation
Accreditation refers to the official recognition of the delivery of a programme of study as appropriately meeting the standards and requirements of the award issued. Dublin Business School delivers the teaching and assessment of its programmes, but Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI) is responsible for issuing the parchments for accredited programmes of study.
QQI's guidance page on Certification and Parchments is available HERE.
The responsibility of issuing awards has changed over the history of the College, depending on the Awarding Body at the time.
Quality & Qualifications Ireland (QQI)
The majority of programmes delivered by DBS are accredited by Quality & Qualifications Ireland (QQI), and those programmes not accredited by QQI are managed under the same broad Quality Assurance principles.
Re-Engagement
The Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Act 2012 ensures that QQI’s relationships with providers (such as DBS) were maintained until replaced by new quality assurance (QA) arrangements with QQI. They use the term 're-engagement' to describe this transition. DBS has undertaken the Re-Engagement process with QQI, and in doing so, has taken the opportunity to review and enhance our earlier Quality Assurance Handbook.
Dublin Business School's Provider page on QQI's website is available HERE.
Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU)
Dublin Business School, in association with Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), introduced undergraduate degree programmes in 1989. In 1995 Dublin Business School was awarded accredited status by LJMU (allowing DBS to develop their own degree programmes in partnership with LJMU), becoming the first independent college in Ireland to be awarded such status. From 1999 this relationship extended into delivering postgraduate Business programmes.
The relationship with LJMU concluded with the final students graduating or transferring in 2015-16.
HETAC
Prior to QQI, HETAC was the awarding body for Higher Education awards in Ireland, beyond the university system (private Colleges and Institutes of Technology). This was closely allied to FETAC (the awarding body for Further Education).
HETAC was established in 2001, under the Qualifications (Education and Training) Act 1999.
HETAC granted awards from 2001 to 2012, and transferred its functions to QQI in November 2012.
Institutional Review
DBS undertook the HETAC Institutional Review process in 2010. The HETAC Panel expressed full confidence in the College’s quality assurance procedures and processes. There were no conditions arising from the Panel’s visit. The Panel did make a number of recommendations, high level observations and commendations. One particular commendation made by the Panel related to the commitment, knowledge and expertise of DBS staff.
The HETAC DBS Institutional Review Report
The College's Self Evaluation Report
National Council for Educational Awards (NCEA)
Prior to HETAC, the body responsible for recognising institutions to deliver certificate, diploma, degree and postgraduate level courses was the National Council for Educational Awards. NCEA formally recognised DBS in 1992, identifying the College as a designated institution.
NCEA's legal successor was HETAC, which undertook their functions from 2001.
The Annual Quality Assurance Report (AQR) is an annual report about internal quality assurance that institutions provide to QQI.
QQI's resource page regarding AQRs is available HERE.
Dublin Business School will be working closely with QQI in undertaking these Annual Reports in the coming months.