20.4 What special features exist for system-accredited higher education institutions?

If several degree-awarding institutions jointly offer a study programme(case group 1, see FAQ 20.1) and if they include system-accredited higher education institutions, these higher education institutions must jointly decide whether the study programme should be program-accredited or whether the system-accredited higher education institution should award a seal for the study programme in accordance with Section 20 (2) MRVO.

Without the additional requirements according to § 20 para. 2 MRVO being fulfilled, a system-accredited higher education institution cannot issue accreditation for a joint study programme that would apply to the study programme as a whole, as it does not bear sole responsibility for the quality of the programme.

In addition, it is not legally possible for the system-accredited higher education institution to carry out an internal accreditation of a study programme jointly run by several higher education institutions and for the other participating higher education institutions to carry out an external programme accreditation of the same study programme, as only one accreditation decision can be made for a study programme or no further accreditation decision can be made due to the validity of an accreditation decision made for the same study programme.

An internal accreditation of the study programme and awarding of the seal by the system-accredited higher education institution in accordance with Section 20 (2) may take place if its requirements are met: “If a system-accredited higher education institution carries out a study programme-related cooperation with another higher education institution, the system-accredited higher education institution may award the Accreditation Council’s seal to the study programme in accordance with Section 22 (4) sentence 2, provided it is itself a degree-awarding institution and guarantees the implementation and quality of the study programme concept.”

The higher education institution is considered a degree awarding institution even if it only awards the degree to students enrolled with it.

If several higher education institutions offer several identical or essentially identical study programmes in parallel(case group 2, see FAQ 20.1) and if they include system-accredited higher education institutions, they can only award the seal for the study programmes they offer after they have passed their own internal quality management systems. In this case, the study programmes in the cooperation that are offered by higher education institutions that are not system-accredited must undergo separate program accreditations. The program accreditations can be carried out in joint accreditation procedures; however, this is not mandatory (see FAQ 20.3). § Section 20 para. 2 MRVO cannot be applied here.