ACCREDITATION OF TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION

• submission by the college of an application for accreditation to the Agency with copies of the general license and licenses for educational programs;
• conclusion of an accreditation agreement between IQAA and the educational organization;
• appointment of a coordinator, conducting a training workshop for the college working group on the preparation of the self-assessment report;
• establishment of an internal quality assurance system by the educational institution, preparation of a self-assessment report in accordance with IQAA standards and criteria;
• submission of the first version of the self-assessment report and technical review of the IQAA self-assessment report. The results of the technical expertise are sent to the TVET organization, and if necessary, the self-assessment report is finalized by the educational organization;
• submission of the final self-assessment report and its annexes to the Agency.

• the IQAA forms a competent group of experts (auditors), which includes representatives of educational institutions of Kazakhstan, the employer and the student; the group is formed in parallel during the technical analysis of the self-assessment report;
• the Agency informs the educational organization about the composition of the expert group on external audit. If the TVET organization suspects a conflict of interest among any of the auditors, they have the right to apply to the Agency to replace the expert (auditor), attaching a written reasoned explanation;
• the coordinator sends the self-assessment materials and methodological support several weeks in advance to the members of the expert group to prepare for the external audit;
• the coordinator conducts a preliminary webinar for the expert group to train experts and discuss organizational audit issues, and a briefing before the visit to the educational organization;
• the external audit to the educational organization (3 days for institutional accreditation, 2 days for one cluster of educational programs for program accreditation) is organized. An external audit is conducted to assess the reliability of the information provided in the self-assessment report, the actual state of affairs in the educational organization;
• the expert group generates an external evaluation report (with comments and recommendations) according to the approved template, which is sent to the coordinator;
• the IQAA coordinator sends the received report of the expert group on the assessment of the activities of the TVET organization to the educational organization to eliminate factual inaccuracies, if any;
• the TVET organizations may have access to a complaint procedure, if necessary.

• basing on the self-assessment report and the external audit report, the Agency coordinator prepares an opinion, which is approved by the Expert Council, and a presentation for the Accreditation Council;
• holding a meeting of the IQAA Accreditation Council and making a decision on the accreditation of the TVET organization or educational program. The Accreditation Council independently makes decisions based on the self-assessment report and the external audit report, presentation, and conclusion. However, taking into account the views of the members of the Accreditation Board, additional information about the specific program, and the evidence base for the organization of TVET, the assessment may be changed
• informing the TVET organization and the members of the expert group that conducted the external audit about the decision on accreditation;
• having access to the appeal procedure by the TVET organizations if necessary publishing;
• publishing of the external audit report, presentation, and accreditation results on the Agency's website. Inclusion of an accredited TVET organization /educational program in the IQAA register on the website in the tabs "Register of decisions and reports of TVET organizations";
• sending information to the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan for inclusion of an accredited TVET / educational program organization in the relevant National Register.

• Implementation of regular post-accreditation monitoring by the Agency.