<p> A causal-comparative research of Colombia’s institutional accreditation system (CIAS), specifically the assessment indicators students (S), professors (P) and relevance and social impact (RSI), and the quality of higher education as measured by student graduation rates, graduate employability rates, and student attrition rates has not been sufficiently investigated. The purpose of this study was to examine what differences, if any, exist in student graduation, graduate employability and student attrition based on accreditation status of the university (assessed using indicators of S, P and RSI). The theoretical foundation of the study was excellence in higher education (EHE) model that uses key elements to assess quality and effectiveness of higher education institutions. Data for the study’s sample, which comprised of 62 universities, 31 accredited and 31 non-accredited, were extracted from SNIES, the official source of numeric data for all of Colombia’s higher education institutions. A Mann-Whitney <i>U</i> test indicated greater rates for student graduation for accredited universities than non-accredited (<i>U</i> = 184.500; <i>Z</i> = -3.421; <i>p</i> = .001). A <i>t</i>-test did not show significant differences in indicators of graduate employability (t(60) = 2.200, <i>p</i> = .320) and student attrition rates (<i>t</i>(60) = 1.102, <i> p</i> = .283) between accredited and non-accredited universities. The findings suggest that S and RSI are valid indicators of quality within the country’s accreditation system, but there is a need to reform the indicator P, to improve university quality. Keywords: accreditation measures, student graduation, graduate employability, student attrition, university quality. </p><p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:10283189 |
| Date | 01 July 2017 |
| Creators | Solarte, Carlos Alberto Florez |
| Publisher | Grand Canyon University |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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