Maiden workshop upcoming this August

The Colombo Plan Staff College goes full-blast starting this August, for the Asia Pacific Accreditation and Certification Commission (APACC) as it announces the holding of the Inter-Governmental Workshop on Regional Accreditation Modeling and Accrediting the Accreditors from 15 to 26 August 2005 at CPSC, Manila, Philippines.

Around 50 Officials of national accreditation boards, coordinators for accreditation and CPSC Liaison Officers and experts from member countries in Asia and the Pacific region are expected to gather for this momentous event which seeks to fortify the standards and instruments of the APACC accreditation scheme and foster the competence of accreditors for technical education and vocational training institutions in Asia and the Pacific.

The workshop specifically intends to:

• develop an understanding of APACC accreditation: its present status, organization and policies, standards and criteria for evaluation, processes and procedures, and the roles and responsibilities of accreditors;

• discuss issues related to evaluation activities, to wit: analyzing self-survey results, conducting external survey, interview techniques and on site visits, drafting the accreditation report, and handling decisions, appeals and complaints;

• provide participants with first-hand experience in conducting an accreditation exercise in accordance with established procedures and standards; and

• promote exchange of experiences and information on the state of accreditation in the member countries along technical education and vocational training.

The regional workshop is a follow-up of the 1st International Conference on Accreditation and Certification for TET Institutions held in December, Seoul, Republic of Korea.