Opportunities and limitations of accreditation processes as part of quality assurance - experiences and consequences from HAFL BFH Switzerland" in QUALITY MANAGEMENT AND ACCREDITATION for study programmes in forest sciences and related disciplines

Accreditation is a common, in some cases even obligatory, process at European universities. In this context, accreditation should not mainly become a burden, but a useful tool that contributes to improve teaching and learning. In this article some recent trends concerning accreditation processes are presented from a Swiss viewpoint. With the recently finalised accreditation process, Berner Fachhochschule (BFH) is the first public university of applied sciences in Switzerland which received an accreditation on the institutional level. The main question addressed in the presentation tries to identify what impact may be achieved from this accreditation success for the quality of study programmes. This is reflected from various perspectives and for future accreditation processes.