UB Seeks International Stamp of Approval for Its Degree Programs
For students and graduates of the University of Belize, international accreditation could mean greater recognition of their degrees and new opportunities abroad. UB has now taken a major step in that direction by submitting its Application for Accreditation Candidacy to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. The move follows years of internal work to improve faculty qualifications, institutional effectiveness, policy development and quality assurance. According to UB President Dr. Vincent Palacio, the university now enters a detailed review process that will determine whether it qualifies for candidacy status.
Vincent Palacio
Dr. Vincent Palacio, University of Belize
“We’ve been getting things ready. We’re looking at qualifications of our faculty; we’re looking at different program review processes we’ re looking at all the quality assurance issues that a university need to put in place. So we’re at the point now where we feel we have that ready. So we submitted now for accreditation with this international institution. So that is it took us four years to get to this point. So the submission goes in, and then after the submission now, we will have some assessors come down to visit the university to ensure that what we say we’re doing, we are actually doing, before we get our institutional accreditation. So it’s a huge a huge milestone for the university.”
Paul Lopez
“And for the students, what can students look forward to in terms of this accreditation? What does it do for the degrees and the students?”
Dr. Vincent Palacio
“It definitely make the degree more credible, like I said our students can now transfer to in other universities in the world, internationally easier. Not that they couldn’t have in the past, but now, you know, they would often ask, “Are you from an accredited institution?” So we’ll make sure our students will be able to say that to do their associate degree with us and do their bachelor’s degree somewhere else, do their bachelor’s degree with us and do their graduate studies somewhere else. This has been a long-standing issue with the university, hasn’t it? Where students complain that even after doing some courses, in some instances they’ve been unable to transfer those credits. That is true. That is true. So we want to make sure now that the world will know we are accredited, you come and your credits will be transferred. But most institutions, we would say, would accept our credit, but now there’s no question. You don’t have to bring your course outlines like they normally would when they transfer to an institution. They would just make sure to state that indeed the University of Belize is accredited by an international accreditation agency.”
Additionally, UB’s medical school is pursuing accreditation from the Caribbean Accreditation Authority for Medicine and Other Health Professions, a process that could only begin after completing a full student cycle.
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