Accreditation and Recognition
Quality counts
‘Accreditation’ is a term commonly used to describe an institution, school or programme that has been approved in some way and to show that academic quality and standards have been checked and verified. The term is used differently in different education systems. In the UK, academic quality is integral to degree-awarding powers.
It is important that students and prospective students alike have confidence in the integrity of the award they are signing up to. For our programmes, this is guaranteed through Heriot-Watt University’s status as a Royal Charter institution.
Separately, there are a number of agencies, such as EQUIS (the European Quality Improvement System); AACSB; and AMBA (UK Association of MBAs) that offer accreditation for programmes, disciplines, schools and institutions. We have not sought this additional accreditation.
Accreditation and Recognition of Heriot Watt University (trading as Edinburgh Business School) programmes in Australia
Heriot Watt University has also been accredited in Australia and is currently the only overseas institution that offers MBAs with this level of local accreditation.
Accreditation
Heriot Watt University (trading as Edinburgh Business School) is accredited by the Director-General of the New South Wales Department of Education and Training (NSWDET) to issue higher education degrees which are recognised within the Australian Qualifications Framework. The Director-General of the NSW DET is the only legal entity conferred authority under the NSW Higher Education Act 2001 to accredit overseas universities to operate in New South Wales. Approval processes undertaken by the NSW DET are aligned with the National Protocols for Higher Education Approval Processes. For a full listing of approved higher education qualifications offered by Edinburgh Business School, please visit the New South Wales AQF Register of Higher Education.
Recognition
All qualifications offered by Edinburgh Business School are accredited by the relevant government agency in Australia and are deemed equivalent to qualifications issued by institutions recognised under Generally Accepted Accrediting Principles (GAAP). Accreditation by an agency recognised under GAAP is a strong assurance that the qualifications issued by Edinburgh Business School will be recognised by industry and other education providers throughout the world.
The degrees offered by Edinburgh Business School are deemed equivalent and recognised in equal standing to those qualifications issued by self-accrediting Australian Universities.
