Our Memberships

Three levels of institutional membership are recognized by ATHEA:

Institutional Membership
This is the entry into ATHEA and the starting point for all institutional members who may seek accreditation. The institution must have legal authorisation to operate as a tertiary educational institution, have students in a programme of higher education, be in existence for at least 1 year, and offer and teach their own institution’s programmes. If, for example, an institution is teaching for another institution but has no academic programmes of their own, they could not be an Institutional Member.

Candidate for Accreditation
An Institutional Member who has completed all of the requirements for candidacy status as stated in the ATHEA Accreditation Process Manual will be a considered a candidate for accreditation. The Institutional Member must have graduates of the programme and be in existence for at least 3 years. The specific term for candidacy is Transnational Higher Education Accreditation-Candidate, or ATHEA-Candidate.

Accredited member
Once a Candidate for Accreditation completes a self-evaluation, passes a site evaluation, and is accepted into accreditation status by the ATHEA Board of Commissioners, the institution is awarded accreditation. The ATHEA-Candidate must have at least 2 cycles of graduates (students that start and finish the programme) from their institution. The specific term for accredited is ATHEA-Accredited.

How to become an Institutional Member
In order to become an Institutional Member of the ATHEA, an academic institution must:

  • Submit an application for Institutional Membership. Applications for the ATHEA institutional membership must be approved and signed by the institution’s chief executive officer (i.e., president, chancellor, director general), affirming its commitment to abide by the accreditation policies and procedures of the ATHEA. The application form will be reviewed by the ATHEA staff and the applicate will be notified regarding acceptance.
  • Pay its membership dues to the ATHEA.
  • Provide evidence that the institution has the legal authority to operate as a tertiary educational institution. In cases where the documentation of the legal authority is written in a language other than English, the academic institution must submit a copy of the original non-English version and an English translation of the original documentation.
An Institutional Member is not allowed to claim or imply candidacy or accreditation by the ATHEA Board of Commissioners until candidacy or accreditation has been officially granted and awarded.
Support services
ATHEA aspires to be the preeminent resource for institutions of higher education striving to achieve excellence in fulfilling their missions. ATHEA intends, through voluntary assessment and adherence to high standards for student learning outcomes and operational behaviour, to assure higher education’s publics that its accredited institutions are fulfilling their stated purposes and addressing the publics’ expectations.The purpose of ATHEA includes assisting members with improving the quality of higher education.

Value proposition for Members

ATHEA intends to be listed on the EQAR European Quality Assurance Register not later than 2026. Benefits for higher education institutions (HEI) were identified as follows:

Institutions benefit from a strengthened institutional quality assurance system in line with the ESG and the Bologna Process.

This includes
  • internal and external quality assurance,
  • compliance with educational frameworks based on the Dublin descriptors,
  • the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS),
  • stakeholder focus,
  • outcome-based performance evaluation,
  • and an appropriate governance system of the institution.
  • networking and topic-oriented collaboration (e.g. faculty and student exchange, research, publications) between institutions are additional benefits.
Taking account of the complex and changing legal framework of the European Higher Education Area and each country no guarantees can be given.It will have to be determined on a case by case basis if the following options will take effect.

Depending on the country an HEI is operating in,
  • this could translate into recognition as a locally operating HEI without further national accreditation or auditing,
  • with full recognition of the degrees according to the European Network of Information Centres – National Academic Recognition Information Centres (ENIC/NARIC),
  • securing local recognition of degrees and upward mobility for students within the Bologna system.
Want to know more or apply for membership?