- Accreditation
- A voluntary, external quality review in which an independent body evaluates an institution or programme against published standards and decides whether it meets them.
- Accreditation Decision Committee
- At SAC, the body that makes the final accreditation decision. It is separate from the assessors, who only recommend.
- Annual monitoring
- A proportionate yearly progress review during the accreditation period. It is not a re-accreditation.
- Assessor
- A trained, independent expert who reviews an application against the standards and recommends an outcome. SAC uses a panel of three assessors, up to five for complex cases.
- Conditional accreditation
- An outcome used when an institution meets the standard overall but has minor, remediable gaps that must be addressed within a set period.
- Conflict of interest
- A personal, financial or professional relationship that could affect, or appear to affect, an impartial judgement. Assessors and decision-makers declare them.
- Consensus score
- The documented score a panel agrees after each assessor has scored independently and the differences have been discussed.
- Evidence
- Documents, data and examples that show a claim in the self-evaluation is true in practice, such as policies in use, minutes, survey results or outcome data.
- Focal contact point
- The person an institution names as the main contact for the accreditation process.
- Institutional accreditation
- Accreditation of an institution as a whole, covering governance, strategy, resources and quality assurance.
- Learning outcomes
- Statements of what a student should know or be able to do after completing a programme or course.
- Licensing
- Legal permission from a government authority for an institution to operate or award degrees. Accreditation does not replace it.
- Programme accreditation
- Accreditation of a single programme or degree, covering its design, learning outcomes, teaching, assessment and results.
- Quality assurance
- The policies and processes an institution uses to maintain and improve the quality of teaching, learning and support.
- Quality domain
- A broad area of institutional performance that standards are grouped under. SAC's Higher Education framework has eight.
- Recognition
- A decision by a government, regulator or network to accept an accreditor, institution or qualification for defined purposes.
- Self-evaluation report
- The institution's structured assessment of itself against the standards, with ratings, reasoning and references to evidence.
- Site visit
- A visit by assessors, usually two to three days, to validate evidence and meet leadership, staff and students.
