Quality assessment and development in the course of the EFMD CEL programme accreditation

This paper reviews the experiences and learnings derived from the EFMD CEL programme accredita-tion. The EFMD CEL quality framework is briefly described and an overview of the programmes that have pursued accreditation is presented. Subsequently, the evaluation results for the programmes having undergone accreditation / re-accreditation are analysed. This analysis moves from a more ag-gregated view to a more detailed view and observations are related to relevant findings in the literature. Also, the key issues and recommendations identified by the auditors for further development of the programmes reviewed are discussed, as are the evaluation results for three programmes that have undergone re-accreditation. Key findings are: 1) The quality criteria at the core of the EFMD CEL quality framework are applicable for diverse programmes. 2) The programmes receive differentiated evaluations on the different quality dimensions and quality criteria. 3) Auditors' ideas for improvement and recommendations most commonly pertain to the quality dimensions "Pedagogy" and "Or-ganization / Culture". 4) Noticeable quality improvements are indeed initiated through the EFDM CEL audit and accreditation process. 5) Quality management is not a one way street and slippage with regard to some quality criteria may be observed in re-accreditation results.