ATHEA

The Association for Transnational Higher Education Accreditation (ATHEA) is a membership non-profit association registered in Vienna, Austria (ZVR-Zahl 378490525). ATHEA is governed by a Board of Directors who are elected by the membership. The association’s daily operations are managed by the Executive Director.

ATHEA promotes the following activities:

The promotion of education and continuing education for adults, as well as life-long learning in the area of higher education.
To provide educational accreditation and quality assurance to its member institutions, comprised of degree/diploma granting post-secondary educational institutions offering higher education and located inside or outside the European area, including, but not limited to, the countries who are signatories of the Bologna Protocols.
To serve as an accrediting agency that is included on the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education. As such the organization will conduct voluntary, non-governmental peer review and make decisions concerning the accreditation or pre-accreditation status of member institutions, programs, or both.
To promote quality assurance and improvement through voluntary accreditation via peer evaluation, and instill public confidence in its institutional members’ missions, goals, performance, and resources through its rigorous accreditation standards and their enforcement.

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The foundation for ATHEA is its mission and values. These foundational concepts establish the operational context, scope, and governance of the association.They are part of ATHEA’s Charter which establishes the legal basis for the association.

The International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE) provides a thorough discussion regarding accreditation and Quality Assurance Agencies (www.INQAAHE.org).

The US Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) also provides an important discussion regarding accreditation and includes questions to consider towards evaluating if an agency or institution is bogus (www.CHEA.org).

ATHEA will seek recognition by EQAR (the European Quality Assurance Register) once it is eligible. In order to be eligible for EQAR, ATHEA as adopted for use in forming its accreditation standards and expectations the Standards and guidelines for quality assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG) as adopted by the EU Ministers in May 2015 (http://www.enqa.eu/index.php/home/esg/).

Two important eligibility requirements is that ATHEA has to be in existence for at least 2 years and have conducted several quality review cycles. To date, we have developed a full set of accreditation standards and processes that align with the ESG. We also have evaluated and accredited enough members to start planning the EQAR application process for 2023-2024.

MISSION

The Association for Transnational Higher Education Accreditation (ATHEA) is a voluntary, non-governmental, membership association that is dedicated to quality assurance and improvement through accreditation via peer evaluation. Accreditation by Board of Commissioners instills public confidence in the institutional mission, goals, performance, and resources through its rigorous accreditation standards and their enforcement of those standards. ATHEA’s Standards for Accreditation are based on the European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance (ESG) required for recognition by the European Quality Assurance Register in Higher Education (EQAR).

CORE VALUES

The Association for Transnational Higher Education Accreditation (ATHEA) is guided by these Core Values:

- Self-regulation and peer-review
- A seamless relationship with member institutions to promote continuous self-evaluation and institutional improvement
- Respect for the unique mission of each institution and evaluation within that context
- Transparency about the accreditation processes and the status held by each member institution
- Responsiveness to the needs of the higher education community and societal changes