Accreditation in Latin America and the Caribbean
This edition of World Education News and Reviews continues our review of the development of accreditation procedures in higher education throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. In this issue the focus is on two Caribbean nations: The Dominican Republic and Cuba.
These two countries should be considered on the forefront of incorporating quality assurance, evaluation and accreditation as valuable assets to their higher education sectors. While many countries in the region are just now beginning to examine accreditation as a means to improving competition and quality at their tertiary institutions, The Dominican Republic and Cuba have, relatively speaking, long-standing accreditation practices. In Cuba, the government has long used the practices of internal and external evaluation as a means to monitor the success of higher education. In recent years, however, this exercise is being refined within an international framework and given more weight as a necessary step towards ensuring all students a worthwhile post-secondary education. The Dominican Republic also utilizes a system of accreditation that in part incorporates the resources of the government as well as emphasizing international participation.