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IAC/EADI Accreditation

The International Accreditation Council for Global Development Studies and Research

EADI, as the professional European organisation of institutes and professionals in the field of Development, wishes to influence proactively the process of accreditation and quality assurance as far as Global Development Studies are concerned. To this end it has developed a state-of-the art quality assurance (QA) and accreditation system that take the specific nature of global development studies into account.

The International Accreditation Council for Global Development Studies and Research (IAC/EADI) is the independent council of EADI in charge of the system. IAC/EADI works in close collaboration with the EADI Secretariat in Bonn. The main purpose of IAC/EADI is to promote the quality of Global Development training programmes both in the North and the South.

The primary services provided by the IAC/EADI are:

  • to confer Accreditation Trademarks (“IAC/EADI Accredited Programme”) to organisations from the North and the South requesting accreditation for their taught Master programme
  • to develop partnerships and capacity building activities with the global South and partner organisations
  • to monitor and develop accreditation standards and to seek national and international recognition of the IAC/EADI accreditation standards

IAC/EADI accreditation either stands by itself as voluntary evaluation and accreditation system or it can be complementary to the national systems which are in place in Europe and beyond. Accreditation by IAC/EADI may in certain cases be formally recognised by national accreditation authorities. The QA standards and criteria used by IAC/EADI are state of the art and in line with the European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area as issued by the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA).

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Council Members

Briefing paper:

EADI’s International Accreditation Council for Development Studies (IAC) celebrates its 10th anniversary: Looking back and moving forward

In this briefing paper Dr Joost Mönks, secretary of the IAC, summarises the purpose, history and objectives of the IAC and gives an overview of criteria and steps of the accreditation process. To establish criteria tailored to academic Development Studies programmes, a common understanding of the field of Development Studies was needed. Read the paper