Programme accreditation in Germany
ZEvA has been carrying out programme accreditation procedures in Germany since 1998 and was authorised by the Accreditation Council in 2000.
Since 2018, ZEvA has been responsible for conducting procedures which fall under the Accreditation Treaty of the States, the results of which form the basis for the Accreditation Council’s decision on accreditation. In addition, ZEvA also accredits study programmes outside the Bachelor/Master system (e.g. doctorate, diploma).
For detailed information, please refer to our guidelines (in German only):
Services provided by ZEvA
The Accreditation Council accredits Bachelor's and Master's degree programmes at state and state-recognised universities and University of Applied Science as well as Bachelor's degree programmes at universities of cooperative education. For this purpose, ZEvA carries out the assessment and prepares an accreditation report which serves the Accreditation Council as its basis of decision-making.
Cluster accreditations enable a higher education institution or a larger faculty to accredit its study programmes with less effort in a relatively short time. In this process, study programmes with affinity to the subject are combined into a cluster and assessed together.
In the model assessment (also called system assessment or model evaluation), matters relating to several study programmes at a higher education institution are assessed in a separate assessment procedure, e.g., teacher training study programme models, special didactic models or study programmes with a high degree of interconnectedness within a faculty.
Outside the responsibility of the Accreditation Council, ZEvA also offers the accreditation of doctoral or diploma study programmes, especially in Lower Saxony. The procedure here follows the same procedure as the accreditation of Bachelor's and Master's study programmes, so they can also be assessed together with these in a cluster. In this case, the decision is made by the ZEvA Commission.
Programmes offered by a German higher education institution together with one or more higher education institutions in other European countries which conclude with a Joint Degree can be accredited directly by ZEvA according to the European Approach. This decision can then be recognised both by the Accreditation Council and in the partner countries. You can find more information here.
Procedure
The following diagram shows a typical course of the procedure. The time schedule may vary from case to case and can be adapted to the needs of the higher education institution and the procedure. Please note: the processing times at the Accreditation Council are not subject to the influence of the agency and should be inquired there.

Quality improvement
ZEvA offers higher education institutions various opportunities to make improvements to their study programme and self-report during the procedure. In this way, conditions can be avoided when submitting an application to the Accreditation Council. You can find more information here (in German only):
Complaints and appeals
For the possibility of filing a complaint or an Appeal against a formal decision, see here.
Programme accreditation with ZEvA
If you would like to receive an offer for a programme accreditation procedure, please contact the Head of Programme Accreditation. You can find a sample documents for your self-report here (in German only):

I am at your disposal for any questions at any time!
Dr. Dagmar Ridder
Head of Programme Accreditation and Certification