The National Committee for Qualifications and Academic Accreditation (NCQAA) has granted institutional accreditation to the Community College of Qatar (CCQ), making it the first national higher education institution in the country to receive such recognition.
During a press conference held Tuesday in the presence of HE the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education Dr Ibrahim bin Saleh al-Nuaimi, NCQAA Chairperson Dr Mazen Omar Hasnah said that this achievement marks a significant milestone in the history of higher education in Qatar, pointing to the expansion in higher education institutions that the country has been experiencing over the past 15 years, which necessitated the establishment of NCQAA; the first-of-its-kind to be responsible for granting such national accreditation internally.
Dr Hasnah noted that NCQAA has spent the past period developing institutional accreditation standards and creating a set of models, data, and procedures to carry out this process. He said that are five main accreditation standards: the institution’s mission and structure, integrity assurance, availability of institutional resources and planning, institutional effectiveness, mission fulfilment, and finally a standard regarding the institution’s impact on its environment, its engagement with relevant partners, and their satisfaction with it and its performance, along with 48 sub-standards. The chairperson of NCQAA congratulated CCQ on receiving this institutional accreditation, which he emphasised is mandatory, a continuous process, and a quality assurance mark.
Dr Hasnah said that NCQAA has set the initial institutional accreditation’s validity at a maximum of five years, adding that 13 universities will undergo the institutional accreditation process next year, with the ultimate objective of including all higher education institutions in the country. President of CCQ Dr Khalid Mohamed al-Horr expressed his happiness about the College receiving this five-year accreditation, as the first national institution to do so.
