The Role of Academic Accreditation in the development and Improvement of Academic Programs in the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

#The private sector, all over the globe, has started to invest in public education ranging from kindergartens to colleges and universities.  This trend is driven either by pure financial motives, a mixture of financial and educational motives, or, in few cases, pure educational motives (e.g.  charitable institutions).  For this reason, governments and civil agencies call for state laws and policies to monitor such institutions and guard the public interest. The United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) is not an exception. The country has witnessed an increase in the establishment of private institutions of higher education. This pushes the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, hereafter referred to as (the Ministry), to subject private institutions to licensure and their academic programs to accreditation. The Ministry, represented by the Commission for Academic Accreditation (CAA), has established rigorous standards and criteria to ensure quality education, guarantee the achievement of high learning outcomes, and maintain the public trust. This paper investigates the accreditation movement in the U.A.E. and its role in the development and improvement of:  (1)  programs'  theoretical  components,  (2) programs' practical processes, (3) faculty's professional skills and status, (4) teaching and learning resources, and (5) programs' learning outcomes in private institutions of higher education. The findings indicate that the accreditation process plays a significant role in the development and improvement of certain areas of academic pro-grams but plays a moderate role in other areas