The Senior Administrators and Department Chairs' Perspective of the Accreditation Process in Schools of Engineering - The Case of the Universidad Tecnológica Nacional in the Argentine Republic

摘要

Most of the research related to the accreditation process in Latin American higher education institutions, and the particular case of Argentine higher education institutions, focuses on the historical perspective of the quality movement in these countries, the meaning of quality in higher education, the results of external evaluation, and the current debate about the nature of the accreditation process. There is an absence of research identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the accreditation process. In order to understand the strengths and weaknesses of implementation, this research focused on the accreditation process in Argentine higher education organizations and the particular case of senior administrators' and department chairs' perspectives in the Universidad Tecnológica Nacional, the leading engineering education center in the Argentine Republic.The instrument was a study survey which used a questionnaire that was web-based and available in paper form as well. The researcher designed this questionnaire based on the different factors identified in the literature research. This questionnaire was the primary source of data collection and it was distributed to all Senior Academic Administrators (deans, vice deans, assistant deans) and Department Chairpersons of 27 schools and academic units, belonging to the Universidad Tecnológica Nacional.The main finding is that accreditation is perceived as important for the schools. It is also considered as an opportunity to improve the institutions at different levels. Therefore, the resistance factors are minimum and the internal success factors are the predominant ones.This research in the leading federal engineering university could be used as a reference for further studies to know if the accreditation process is also valuable for other federal and private engineering schools as well as if it is perceived as an opportunity for improvement. Finally, for the academic administrators of engineering schools, members of the National Commission for Evaluation and University Accreditation (CONEAU), and decision makers at the Ministry of Education in the Argentine Republic, it would be significant not only to determine the forces that sustain and resist the accreditation process in the federal and the private university environment but also the recommendations to improve the accreditation process.