School accreditation

Generally, accreditation is the process by which a facility becomes officially certified as providing services of a reasonably good quality, so that the public can trust in the quality of its services.

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In the United States, the term is most often used with reference to schools and hospitals, neither of which are directly certified by the federal government. Instead, because of the long tradition of libertarianism in the U.S., accreditation is performed by private nonprofit bodies known as accreditors.

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In contrast, in other countries, higher education institutions must receive the permission of the government to operate, and thus accreditation is performed by the government. For example, in Australia, higher education providers generally need approval of the federal or state governments (or a non-government body to whom this power has been delegated), or an Act of Parliament, depending on the nature of the institution. This system differs in that unaccredited institutions are often illegal, and thus diploma mills are much less of a problem in these countries.

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