10.4 Which accreditation deadlines apply to combined and partial study programmes?

The regulations in § 32 MRVO are intended to ensure that each combined study programme is regularly accredited every eight years (§ 26 para. 1 sentence 1 MRVO). In contrast, partial study programmes are not subjects of accreditation in their own right, but can only be accredited as part of combined study programmes. If the accreditation of the combined study programme expires or if the accreditation of the combined study programme is denied, the partial study programmes accredited as part of this combined study programme are no longer accredited. A partial study programme is therefore only accredited if both it itself has been assessed and the associated combined study programme has been accredited. This applies equally to program accreditation procedures and the internal procedures of system-accredited higher education institutions.

The MRVO does not contain any information on the validity of deadlines for partial study programmes. Therefore, an assessment period for partial study programmes is assumed to be different from the accreditation period for (combined) study programmes: Partial study programmes have an assessment period, combined study programmes have an accreditation period. Each partial study programme must be reassessed after eight years at the latest, as the provisions of Part 4 of the MRVO remain unaffected in accordance with § 32 Para. 5 MRVO.

The assessment deadlines for partial study programmes can run parallel to the accreditation deadline for the associated combined study programme, but they can also deviate from this in cases in which further partial study programmes are to be set up after the accreditation of the combined study programme and “accredited into” the existing combined study programme, see FAQ 10.6.