Institutional accreditation of online institutions in the Anglophone Caribbean: synergies and misalignments

ABSTRACT

This article explores the status of quality assurance provisions, internal and external, for online education in the Anglophone Caribbean region and provides a comparative analysis of current global trends. The findings of that analysis show that there is a misalignment between the provisions of the external quality assurance agencies and needs of the online institutions, particularly in the region. However, it also highlights the existence of a regional framework policy for quality assurance of online programmes which, if implemented, could alleviate much of the disconnect between the national external quality assurance agencies and the online institutions. Finally, it suggests the need for greater harmonisation between the standards of the various national quality assurance agencies and alignment to regional and international quality assurance for online models.

KEYWORDS:

• Quality
• quality assurance
• higher education
• online education
• Caribbean

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).