NCHE ACCREDITS CHANCO PROGRAMMES

In September, 2020, ­the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE), announced that various programmes at Chancellor College had finally been accredited, in pursuit of its Act which mandates the Council to ensure quality higher education in Malawi. NCHE had visited Chancellor College in October 2019 for accreditation of both the institution and its programmes. ­The institution and all the presented programmes (except one) have now been accredited as published on NCHE’S webpage.

NCHE developed its accreditation and evaluation framework for education programmes offered in higher education institutions. Institutional accreditation makes reference to achievement of acceptable standards, in terms of physical, human, financial, teaching and learning resources; management and operational procedures; and an acceptable standard of academic life focusing on teaching, research, community service and expert service.

Chancellor College excels in all these areas, the evidence of which is in the accreditation status, of which few were ever in doubt. What was recently in focus were the programmes at the college, at various levels of study, which have now been accredited. Programme accreditation takes into account several factors, including the following: the academic qualifications of all members of staff employed by a higher education institution during the period of assessment, including those expected to be employed by the higher education institution; the total number of students enrolled in each programme of instruction offered at a higher education institution and the standards attained by those that have graduated during the period of assessment; information and communication technology infrastructure and the provision for training; the size and quality of the library and other teaching and learning resources; the financial resources available for the exclusive use by a higher education institution, certified by its auditors; the physical facilities including land, land available for the exclusive use by a higher education institution; student-staff ratio of a higher education institution; and the currency, relevance and frequency of review of the curriculum for each programme for comparability, nationally and internationally.