Legal framework

On 3 September 2003 the Netherlands and Flanders have signed a treaty concerning setting up a common accreditation organisation. The treaty symbolises the will of both governments in the Bologna process and set up the rules concerning task, board and organisation of the NVAO.

Flanders

In Flanders, the operation of NVAO is established by the Law regarding the Higher Education Structure ("Structuurdecreet"). This provides the legal basis for an international treaty that appoints the body that grants accreditations and carries out initial accreditation procedures. It stipulates that bachelor and master’s programmes can only be offered by recognised institutions and if they have been (initially) accredited.

The Netherlands

In the Netherlands, the tasks of NVAO are based on the Law regarding Higher Education and Research ("Wet op het hoger onderwijs en wetenschappelijk onderzoek") which, in short, comes down to assess the quality control of higher education institutions, the accreditation of higher education programmes that are already offered in the Netherlands , initial accreditation of new programmes and giving advise on other matters concerning higher education policies.