The “Sapattuu Bilim” Agency for Accreditation of Educational Organizations and Programs

Address: Bishkek,45/1 A.Tokombaeva street, 27 appartment

Description: The main purpose of the activities of the Agency is: Assistance in improving of education quality of educational institutions and increasing their competitiveness at the national and international levels. Implementation of accreditation of educational organizations and educational programs in accordance with the procedure established by law, regardless of the form of ownership and departmental affiliation, in order to confirm the quality of the educational services provided.
The nature of the Agency's activities is:
Accreditation - the procedure of assessing the level of quality of an educational organization as a whole or its individual educational programs, which recognizes the compliance of an educational organization or an educational program with the established criteria and standards.
Institutional accreditation is the procedure of recognizing the compliance of the level of quality of educational organizations as a whole with certain criteria, procedures and its status.
Program accreditation is the procedure of evaluating the compliance of individual programs of an educational organization with certain criteria and standards.

Description: Mission. Support and development of independent accreditation of educational organizations and programs. Increasing the competitiveness of specialists who received education with quality assurance in accordance with the principles of the Bologna Declaration and the best world practices.
Vision. Students have the right to a high quality education and can obtain qualifications that are recognized worldwide. “Sapattuu Bilim” Agency as a guarantor and recognized quality assurance agent.
Values. “Sapattuu Bilim” Agency is open to a diversity of higher education systems and quality assurance approaches and adheres to the following values:
Transparency: “Sapattuu Bilim” Agency publishes its policies, standards and criteria for decision-making and reporting;
Independence: “Sapattuu Bilim” Agency actively promotes operationally independent quality assurance agency policies and supports the autonomy of higher education institutions;
Cooperation: “Sapattuu Bilim” Agency works in consultation with its Accreditation Council members, European partners and other organizations;
Fairness: “Sapattuu Bilim” Agency works openly, honestly and fairly, impartially, objectively and professionally.
The main goal of the Agency's activity is: Promoting the improvement of the quality of education of educational institutions and increasing their competitiveness at the national and international levels. Implementation, in accordance with the procedure established by law, of accreditation of educational organizations and educational programs, regardless of the form of ownership and departmental affiliation, in order to confirm the quality of the educational services provided.

Description: 1. Director. Agency Director’s functions:
• Carries out general management of the agency's activities under the charter.
• Ensures the fulfillment of all obligations undertaken by the Agency.
• Ensures smooth and efficient work of all Agency departments, their qualitative interaction.
• Selects, trains and organizes the activities of experts in accreditation of educational institutions and programs, organizes advanced training for the Agency staff.
• Conducts business negotiations, interacts with the Agency's key clients and partners, concludes and terminates contracts.
• Organizes the expansion of the Agency's external relations to improve its advertising activities.
• Resolves organizational issues within the Agency.
• Supervises the compliance of all the Agency employees with the current legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic.
• Defends the interests of the Agency in court, public authorities.
• Draws up the established reports on the work done.
2. Accreditation Council (11 people).
The main tasks of the Accreditation Council are:
- reviewing and approving the standards, criteria and procedure for accreditation of professional education organizations and programs;
- approval of guiding decision documents and relevant regulations necessary for the activities of the experts and the expert commission of the “Sapattuu Bilim” Agency;
- making decisions on accreditation or refusal of accreditation based on the review of materials of expert commissions and assessment of compliance of educational organizations and programs with the state educational standards of NGOs, SVET and HPE and approved standards and accreditation criteria of "Sapattuu Bilim" Agency;
- making proposals for the development and improvement of the activities of "Sapattuu Bilim" Agency, as well as the promotion of policy in the field of quality assurance of vocational education;
- Appointment and approval of the Chairman and members of the Commission on accreditation, as well as on consideration of appeals and complaints to the expert or expert commission of the Agency.
3. Appeal Commission (5 people): The Appeals Committee consists of 3 members, including the Chairman.
The members of the Appeals Committee are elected by the General Meeting of Founders of the National Accreditation Center by an open ballot by a simple majority of votes.
The Appeals Committee consists of independent members, who are not members of the National Accreditation Council and are not related to the employment relationship with the National Accreditation Center.
A member of the Appeals Committee who has a conflict of interest in considering an appeal from an educational organization does not participate in the decision on the appeal.
If the chair of the Appeals Committee is unable to attend the meeting, he/she will delegate his/her authority to a member of the Appeals Committee.
The composition of the Appeals Committee shall be elected for a term of three years. Tasks of the Appeals Committee: The Appeals Committee considers appeals of educational organizations received in writing on the official letterhead signed by the head of the educational organization.
4. Deputy Director for Public Relations and Accreditation. The main activities are: Manage the formation, implementation and development of the organization's public relations policy. Determine the main directions of the organization's public relations activities. To approve the concept of the organization's external and internal public relations policy. Participate in preparation of comprehensive programs, preparation of perspective and current plans of the organization's activities. Perform representational functions in interaction with mass media, public and commercial organizations, as well as individuals. 2.6. Comment on and explain the activities and aspects of the organization. Decide on comprehensive public opinion surveys to adjust the organization's existing public relations plans, programs, and external and internal policy concepts. Make proposals to improve the effectiveness of the organization based on the results of public opinion research. Monitor the effectiveness of the organization's public relations activities.
5. Deputy Director for International projects. The main activities of deputy director for international projects are:
- Implementation of international projects and programs;
- Coordination of the Agency's activities with foreign agencies and organizations on the basis of long-term agreements and short-term work programs;
- Organization and maintenance of relations with international partners.
6. Financial and Economic Department (1 person). The financial and economic department provides the following tasks: Organization of the agency's financial activities for the most efficient use of all types of resources. Implementation of the single policy of the agency in the field of finance. Control over the use of the agency's working capital. Analysis of the agency's financial and economic condition. Development of accounting policies. Managing working capital, accounts payable and receivable. Timeliness of tax payments to the budget, settlements with suppliers. Creation of conditions for efficient use of fixed assets, labor and financial resources of the agency.
7. Research Center (1 person). The main objectives of the research center are:
- Priority development of fundamental research as a basis for the creation of new knowledge, development of scientific schools and leading scientific teams in the most important areas of social and economic sciences;
- Provision of retraining and advanced training of managers and specialists at the Agency;
- Research and development of theoretical and methodological foundations for the formation and development of additional professional education;
8. Site Administrator (1 person) The site administrator performs the following job duties:
Promotes and promotes the site on the Internet in every possible way. Develops and maintains the basic concept of the site, makes suggestions for finalizing the concept and content of the site, for the introduction of new services for site visitors. Monitors the text content of the site, constantly updating the information. Reviews all documents and materials published on the website, deletes and edits materials that do not comply with the general concept and rules of use of the website. Monitors visitors' compliance with the rules of use of the site, as well as other mandatory requirements imposed by its creators. Assists authors in the design of published materials. Performs work on the editing and proofreading of materials and their structuring, including the design of the design of texts, tables, etc. Participates in the artistic design of the information posted on the site together with the webmaster. Researches the needs and requests of visitors to the site. Analyzes the information received from site visitors and, taking into account the technical capabilities and on the basis of the information received, develops and implements new services that increase the effectiveness of the use of the site by consumers.
9. Expert Council (around 80 people)
1. To conduct accreditation of an educational program (cluster of programs), the Agency for Accreditation of Educational Organizations and Programs "Sapattuu Bilim" (hereinafter - "Sapattuu Bilim" Agency) forms an expert commission of experts who have received special training at the Agency and have been certified.
2. The expert commission consists of 4-5 independent experts, including foreign specialists, as well as a representative of employers in the profile of graduates' training and a representative of the student body, who are qualified experts in evaluating educational programs.
3. If the educational organization undergoes accreditation of several educational programs of different areas, depending on the areas of specialty training, expert commissions may be created for each educational program.
4. If the educational organization undergoes accreditation of educational programs of one direction with several training profiles (clusters of programs), an expert commission with increasing number of experts can be created, also depending on the number of profiles expert commissions or commission/commissions can be created to evaluate the cluster / clusters of programs.
5. The basic principles of the work of the expert are honesty, responsibility, integrity, objectivity, confidentiality in the work with the submitted documents. 6.
6. Each expert signs an agreement with the “Sapattuu Bilim” Agency on participation in external expertise and a statement that there is no conflict of interest with the educational organization where the expertise is conducted.
7. The composition of the expert commission shall be agreed with the educational organization. The educational organization shall have the right to reject the proposed nominees of experts with justification.
8. The expert shall be personally responsible for objectivity and reliability of assessments, conclusions, timeliness of the examination and submission of materials to the report on the results of external examination.
9. The expert has the right to request and receive additional materials, documents, information related to accreditation, express and justify his opinion on the evaluation of the educational program (cluster of programs), participate in the discussion of the report on the results of external examination in the process of accreditation.
10. The work of the Expert Commission is organized by the Chairman, who is appointed by the order of the Director of "Sapattuu Bilim" Agency. The order specifies the terms and program of work of the expert commission. Chairman of the expert commission is responsible for the implementation of the external examination program and preparation of the report on the results of the external.

Description: We have a list of experts on our website http://sapatbilim.kg/?page_id=546, and we can also send you an additional list. Areas: Economics and Management, Pedagogy, Science, Medicine, Technology, Energy, Construction, Art and Design, Humanities, Transportation and Engineering, Mining and Mining Technology, Culture and Art, etc.

Description: 1.1. The Regulation on the Accreditation Council of the Agency for Accreditation of Educational Organizations and Programs "Sapattuu Bilim" (hereinafter - the Regulation) was developed in accordance with:
• The Law of KR "On Education";
• The order of recognition of accreditation agencies in the field of education, approved by the Decree of the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic from 29.09.2015, № 670 "On approval of acts of independent accreditation in the education system of the Kyrgyz Republic";
• The procedure of accreditation of educational organizations and programs, approved by the Decree of the KR Government No. 670 of 29.09.2015 "On Approval of Acts of Independent Accreditation in the Education System of the Kyrgyz Republic";
• Regulations on the National Accreditation Council under the authorized state body in the field of education, approved by the Decree of the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic of 04.08.2014, №438;
• Statute of the Agency for Accreditation of Educational Organizations and Programs "Sapattuu Bilim" and other normative legal acts, not contradicting to the legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic on accreditation in the field of education.

1.2 Accreditation Council (AC) is a collegial body of the Accreditation Agency on accreditation of educational organizations and programs "Sapattuu bilim" (hereinafter - Sapattuu bilim Agency), responsible for making decisions on accreditation of educational organizations and programs based on public review of accreditation materials.
1.3 Accreditation Council carries out its activities on the basis of normative legal acts of the Kyrgyz Republic, relevant documents of the Agency "Sapattuu Bilim", international standards and procedures to ensure the quality of professional education and this Regulation.
1.4 Activities of the Accreditation Council are based on the principles of publicity, transparency, objectivity, responsibility and social partnership.
1.5 The work of the members of the Accreditation Council is compensated on the basis of employment agreements concluded between the Director of "Sapattuu Bilim" Agency and the members of the Accreditation Council.

Description: Information of the material and information resources necessary for the implementation of the activities of the Agency "Sapattuu Bilim".
Material resources:
Building, total area 143 sq.м.
Personal computers – 2 pieces;
Laptops – 2 pieces.;
Printer with scanner and copier – 2 pieces.
Projector -1 piece.
Monitor -1 piece.
Informational resources:
- Web site – www.sapatbilim.kg
- Electronic platform for receiving applications and documents for accreditation www.sapatbilim.kg
- Regulations on the Accreditation Council;
- Regulations on the Expert Commission;
- Guidelines for conducting self-assessment for program accreditation of the main educational programs of an educational organization;
- Standards and criteria for accreditation of educational organizations and programs;
- Long term development plan of the Agency for 2017-2022 years;
- Advertising and information materials
- Facebook

Description: The external evaluation is conducted by the expert commission on accreditation of programs and educational organizations of professional education in order to draw up a final report on accreditation of the educational organization/program. In order to achieve comparability of the reports and take into account all relevant areas of the educational organization activity quality assessment, uniform requirements to the structure and content of the reports are set.
The final report of the expert committee is a general, coordinated report of the entire committee on the work done. If any of the experts does not agree with the opinion of the expert committee, their dissenting opinion with arguments can be reflected in the final report.
The educational organization submits an application for program accreditation to the Director of the Agency for Accreditation of Educational Organizations and Programs "Sapattuu bilim". The application is accompanied by a copy of the state license and applications to the license to conduct educational activities and a brief description of the activities of the educational organization.
The “Sapattuu Bilim” Agency and the educational organization decide on the beginning of the program accreditation procedure. The agreement between the Agency "Sapattuu Bilim" and the educational organization on program accreditation and assignment of the status of a candidate for accreditation is concluded.
The educational organization conducts a self-assessment in accordance with the requirements established by the “Sapattuu Bilim” Agency and sends the self-assessment report to the “Sapattuu Bilim” Agency.
Director of the Agency "Sapattuu Bilim" forms an expert commission to evaluate the educational program. The Expert Commission consists of at least three experts for one program, who are experts in evaluating the educational program, including employers and representatives of students and a foreign expert.
Based on the self-evaluation report of the educational program, “Sapattuu Bilim” Agency develops recommendations on the need to finalize the self-evaluation materials, or makes a decision on conducting an external expert evaluation, or in connection with the non-compliance with the standards and criteria on the impossibility of accreditation and decides on the termination of the contract.
In the case of continued accreditation, the chairman of the expert commission and the “Sapattuu Bilim” Agency agree with the educational organization on the timing of the accreditation and the commission's work plan.
The duration of the commission's visit is two days. At the end of the visit, the external expert commission prepares a detailed report on the evaluation of the educational organization, which serves as the basis for the Accreditation Council's decision on accreditation.
When a positive decision is made, “Sapattuu Bilim” Agency sends a certificate of program accreditation, signed by the Director of “Sapattuu Bilim” Agency, to the educational organization with indication of the validity period. Then the decision on accreditation of the educational program is sent to the Ministry of Education and Science of the Kyrgyz Republic and posted on the website of "Sapattuu Bilim" Agency.
If there are certain deficiencies, the accreditation is issued for a period of one year, at the end of this period the expert commission of the "Sapattuu Bilim" Agency checks for the elimination of certain deficiencies with a visit to the educational organization.
If the decision is positive, the period of accreditation is extended to five years. If certain deficiencies were not eliminated within the established period, the validity of accreditation is suspended and the applicant organization has no right to apply for accreditation to the Agency "Sapattuu Bilim" for one year from the date of the decision to withdraw the accreditation of the educational program.
The experts state:
- what was the object of the evaluation;
- The methods of the evaluation (observation, interviews, class visits, etc.)
- when and what materials were obtained, and it will be useful to specify the type of information and the source (e.g., interactive methodology of the lesson was demonstrated to the experts during the observation of the lesson, etc.)
- The timing of the visit to the educational organization;
- strengths and weaknesses of the program or educational organization;
- evidence of the implementation and extent to which each standard was met.
When writing the report it is recommended to use a specific set of definitions and designations. It is also recommended that only those facts and opinions that are relevant to accreditation decisions be stated. Each topic of the report should be expressed in a separate paragraph (for example, the results of the survey of students separately from the survey of the management of the educational organization, teaching staff and UIA, as well as other stakeholders).
When conducting accreditation and writing the final report, the expert committee strictly follows the rules of accreditation: be as objective and unbiased as possible in evaluating the programs or educational organization and remember that independent external expert evaluation is important not only for receiving accreditation by the program or educational organization, but also for their further qualitative development.
STANDARDS AND CRITERIA FOR ACCREDITATION EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS.
The evaluation is done according to 9 standards, each of which includes criteria.
1 standard: Vision, mission, strategy of educational organization. The vision, mission, strategic goals and plans of the educational organization reflect certain interests, needs and expectations of stakeholders, as well as the intent and goals of the country in the field of education and sustainable development. This standard has 5 criteria (which are mentioned in Guidelines).
2 standard: Policy (goals, development strategy) and procedures for quality assurance of the educational program. The educational organization (university, faculty, department) has an approved policy and agreed procedures for quality assurance, and standards to assess the quality of implemented programs and awarded qualifications. The policy, strategy and procedures of quality assurance are officially approved and available to the public. This standard has 4 criteria (which are mentioned in Guidelines).
3 standard: Approval, monitoring and periodic evaluation of programs and qualifications awarded. The educational organization has mechanisms for the development, periodic review, monitoring, evaluation and improvement of educational programs and awarded qualifications. This standard has 11 criteria (which are mentioned in Guidelines).
4 standard: Assessment of students' knowledge/competencies.
Students are assessed using consistent procedures based on published uniform assessment criteria and regulations. This standard has 6 criteria (which are mentioned in Guidelines).
5 standard: Admission of students, recognition of educational results, and graduation of students. This standard has 5 criteria (which are mentioned in Guidelines).
6 standard: Guaranteeing the quality and competence of the teaching staff. The educational organization has policies and mechanisms in accordance with the mission of academic and support staff management. These mechanisms are known to faculty and support staff as well as to all stakeholders. This standard has 9 criteria (which are mentioned in Guidelines).
7 standard: The educational organization ensures that the resources used to organize the learning process are sufficient and meet the requirements of the program being implemented. This standard has 21 criteria (which are mentioned in Guidelines).
8 standard: An information system that supports the effective implementation of an educational program. The educational organization collects, analyzes, and disseminates important information and uses it to effectively manage the curriculum and other activities. This standard has 5 criteria (which are mentioned in Guidelines).
9 standard: Public information. The educational institution regularly publishes up-to-date, unbiased and objective, quantitative and qualitative information on the program and the qualifications awarded. This standard has 4 criteria (which are mentioned in Guidelines).

Description: Based on the results of the external evaluation, the expert commission within 10 working days submits to the Accreditation Agency a conclusion with recommendations on accreditation, conditional accreditation or refusal to accredit the educational organization and program.
The members of the expert commission discuss the results of the accreditation process before writing the conclusion. In the conclusion the expert committee evaluates the activities of the educational organization and the program, assessing the fulfillment of SES requirements, minimum accreditation requirements, stakeholders' requirements, taking into account the test results, and, on their basis, formulate recommendations to improve the activities of the educational organization and the program.
Evaluation of the fulfillment of the minimum requirements is conducted by the Expert Commission on the basis of the approved minimum requirements and evaluation criteria.
The expert commission recommends one of the following decisions to the Accreditation Council:
- to accredit the educational organization and program for a period of 5 years - subject to compliance with the minimum requirements;
- on accreditation of the (conditional) educational organization and the program with observations for a period of 1 year in the presence of up to 2 facts of non-compliance with the minimum requirements, with the requirement to eliminate the identified inconsistencies;
-to refuse accreditation of an educational organization and program in case of more than 2 facts of non-compliance with the minimum requirements.
The conclusion of the expert commission shall be submitted for consideration of the board of the authorized body not later than 30 calendar days from the date of its receipt.
The Chairman of the expert commission presents the conclusion on accreditation of educational programs in the form of a speech at the meeting of the Accreditation Council of the Agency on Accreditation of Educational Organizations and Programs "Sapattuu Bilim" (hereinafter - the Accreditation Council). The Chairperson of the Expert Panel answers the questions of the members of the Accreditation Council.
Decisions on accreditation, refusal of accreditation, revocation of the program accreditation certificate are taken by open vote by a simple majority of votes of the members of the Accreditation Council present at the meeting.
If the program is in the sphere of interest of the Director of the “Sapattuu Bilim” Agency, the Deputy Director of the “Sapattuu Bilim” Agency participates in the meeting of the Accreditation Council.
Educational organizations, whose educational programs are reviewed by the Accreditation Council, have the right to send their representative to the meeting of the Accreditation Council, at which the issue of accreditation of the educational program will be considered.
Educational organizations should be notified of the date and place of the next meeting of the Accreditation Council at least two weeks before the planned date of the meeting.
The members of the Accreditation Council do not have the right to vote when the issue of accreditation of an educational program that is in their sphere of interest is being considered, to avoid possible conflicts of interest and to ensure an open and honest discussion of the programs, leave the meeting room.
The meetings of the Accreditation Council are legitimate, if at least half of its members are present. A decision is considered valid if more than half of those present vote for it.
In case of disagreement with the decision of an expert or expert commission on refusal to accredit an educational program, the educational organization must submit a written application to the Director of the Agency "Sapattuu Bilim" before consideration of the accreditation of an educational program at the meeting of the Accreditation Council not later than two weeks before the planned date of its holding in the prescribed manner.
The decision of the Accreditation Council on accreditation is executed in the form of an order of the Agency.
The accredited educational organization has the right to withdraw the application for accreditation at any stage of accreditation before the Accreditation Council makes a decision.
The results of accreditation of the educational organization, materials of self-assessment and conclusions of the expert commission are published on the official website of the Accreditation Agency "Sapattuu Bilim".
The Agency on the results of the accreditation procedure sends to the Council and the authorized state body in the field of education the information on the work done and the decision taken not later than 10 working days from the date of the relevant decision.
The Council maintains on electronic media a register of accreditation organizations, which received the right to carry out accreditation.
Accreditation organizations, carrying out accreditation, keep on electronic media the registers of accredited educational organizations and programs, place them on their websites, update them at least once a quarter and submit them quarterly to the authorized state body in the field of education not later than the 15th of the month following the reporting period.
The criteria for quality assurance are:
1. Law of the Kyrgyz Republic "On Education" of April 30, 2003 № 92 (as amended on January 16, 2015 № 15).
2. Resolution of the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic "The Concept and Strategy of Education Development in the Kyrgyz Republic for 2012-2020 years", Bishkek, 2012.
3. Resolution of the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic "On strategic directions of education system development in the Kyrgyz Republic" dated March 23, 2012 #201.
4. Decree of the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic #670 dated September 29, 2015 "Minimum requirements for accredited educational organizations of primary, secondary and higher professional education of the Kyrgyz Republic", Bishkek, 2015.
5. Decree of the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic No. 381 of June 16, 2017 "On Approval of the Accreditation Procedure for Educational Organizations Implementing Basic and/or Secondary General Education Programs and Minimum Requirements for Accredited Educational Organizations Implementing Basic and/or Secondary General Education Programs", Bishkek, 2017.

Proof of recognition as a Higher Education Institution: Applicable Only For Institutional Members

Proof of the organisation’s good standing with the local QA agency: Applicable Only For Institutional Members

Applicable Only For Associate Members

Description: Applicable Only For Intermediate Members

Applicable Only For Intermediate Members

Applicable Only For Intermediate Members

Criteria Requirements for Observer: Applicable Only For Observers