18.11 What are the essential changes in system accreditation?

18.11.1 (Essential) changes to internally accredited study programmes

Changes to internally accredited study programs do not fall under § 28 MRVO and therefore do not have to be reported to the Accreditation Council. Such changes are the subject of the university’s internal quality management systems, which, according to § 17 para. 1 sentence 4 MRVO, includes the further development of study programs. Whether an essential change is covered by the existing accreditation is therefore a matter for the higher education institution to decide and not for the Accreditation Council (see also FAQ 2.3). However, the higher education institution must ensure that any essential changes that have been implemented, such as those concerning study program names, study forms, degrees or degree titles, are promptly entered in the Accreditation Council’s database (ELIAS).

The registration of essential changes to the subject of accreditation as part of internal procedures of accredited higher education institutions (system accreditation or Alternative Procedures) has been carried out via ELIAS since August 2024. The entry can be made analogous to the already known application type “Entry of an accreditation (internal)”. A process description is available under the FAQ “Questions about ELIAS”(ELIAS 13).

18.11.2 (Essential) change to the quality management system of an accredited higher education institution (system accreditation or Alternative Procedures)

In the course of their system accreditation, higher education institutions have demonstrated that they regularly review the functionality and effectiveness of their QM system and continuously develop it further (§ 17 para. 2 sentence 4 MRVO). The further development is regularly carried out on the basis of a continuous evaluation of the processes set up in the system and includes a data-supported control of the results, according to the Explanation to § 17 para. 2 sentence 4 MRVO.

The far-reaching responsibility that higher education institutions are given with system accreditation therefore extends not only to the quality and further development of the study programmes they offer, but also to the QM system itself and the need for its continuous further development.

Against this background, notification of an essential change to the QM system to the Accreditation Council is only required if it involves a very far-reaching and fundamental reorientation of the system. This may be the case, for example, if several (partially) system-accredited higher education institutions, each with their own QM systems, merge or if a QM system that was previously oriented towards program accreditation is to be transferred to an accompanying QM system that follows completely different processes.