MQA sets nine weeks for accreditation assessment

KUALA LUMPUR: The new client charter for the provisional and full accreditation assessment, which is done by the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) is nine weeks from the submission date of complete documents until a decision is published.

In a statement here yesterday, the MQA said the valuation activities had been restructured since July 11 and so far, MQA has completed 84 per cent of its full accreditation evaluations within the seven-month period of its client charter.

‘Referring to an article titled ‘Don't Take Too Long to Review IPT Courses' published online yesterday, there was some confusion about the accreditation process implemented by MQA. The article claimed that MQA's approval takes five years,” the statement said.

On Thursday, the agency was urged to help higher education institutions to review existing and new courses more quickly and systematically so that the approved courses will always remain relevant to the changing needs of the industry.

In addition, the statement said MQA requires institutions to continuously monitor, review, and improve the curriculum in order for the programme to remain relevant to current needs.

MQA said most of the changes could be made at the institutional level and approved by the Higher Education Provider (PPT) Senate.

“The structural changes to the core components, including those involved in programme name change must notify MQA and verify to enable proper referral by the public through the Malaysian Qualifications Register portal, which usually takes less than two months,” MQA said.