ACCREDITATION AND QUALITY ASSURANCE NEXUS IN HIGHER EDUCATION PRODUCTION FUNCTION IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The whole essence of higher education is to produce middle or higher level manpower for the ever-growing and dynamic industries. If the foregoing statement is true, then there is a need for the manpower produced by these higher institutions to be of quality. Thus, two concepts come to play in recent times which are accreditation and quality assurance. Accreditation and Quality Assurance has established itself as the leading information and discussion forum for all aspects relevant to the quality of higher education. Accreditation procedures are required for universities and their degree programmes, for the introduction of new degree programmes at universities, and for the establishment of new universities, while quality assurance help universities achieve their goals. This paper thus discussed the concept of accreditation, quality assurance, accreditations, and their nexus within the context of higher education. It was concluded in this paper that accreditation is a tool of external quality assurance which is part of the quality assurance system in higher education. Thus, this paper suggested that there should be synergy between accreditation toolkits and other related activities, and quality assurance toolkits, among others for standardization and uniformity of the higher education system