Abstract:

The idea of quality as a part of internationalization in higher education has also gained importance, and accreditation studies have gained momentum in recent years. In this context, it is evaluated by national and international quality assurance organizations in foreign language education activities offered in higher education institutions, although it is slightly later than other fields. For this reason, the aim of this study is to examine and compare the quality assurance organizations that supervise and accredit the foreign language education offered in higher education institutions in line with certain quality standards, and to present a holistic perspective on accreditation, which is an intense and costly process, for institutions that plan to accredit foreign language services. In this context, all quality assurance organizations (2 national and 3 international organizations) providing services for foreign language teaching in higher education institutions in Turkey were examined. In this study, qualitative research methods were utilized and the document analysis approach, which is one of the methodologies in case studies was utilized. The written institutional papers on the web pages of quality assurance institutions were evaluated and the data were analyzed with the categorical analysis technique, one of the content analysis types, and the findings were interpreted comparatively. The examinations revealed that as of the date of the study, 10 national universities and 46 universities (20 state-run and 26 foundation universities) in Turkey were evaluated by the international quality assurance organization. In the examination of these organizations, their institutional structures, organizational objectives, inspection procedures and quality standards, validity periods and wage policies are emphasized. According to the results of the study, it has been revealed that the criteria applied by quality assurance organizations in their evaluations have comprehensive standards for all basic areas such as administration and management, learning and teaching, assessment and certification, student affairs, staff profile and development, and learning environment. However, it has been concluded that there are serious differences between the validity periods of the accreditation or approvals given by the quality assurance organizations and the wage policies. For this reason, at the end of the study, recommendations regarding the way and method to be followed in the selection of the quality assurance organization and afterwards are given to the institutions considering applying for accreditation. The recommendations are also provided for national quality assurance bodies to initiate accreditation studies for languages other than English.

Keywords: