Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, Culture and Sports
Mediterranean College in Athens and Thessaloniki has an official license for establishment and operation issued by the Ministry of Education & Religious Affairs, Culture and Sports, according to Law 4093/2012.
BAC – British Accreditation Council for Further and Higher Education
British Accreditation Council (BAC) is an independent body of Great Britain, founded in 1984 by the British Council, the QAA (The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education), the CVU (Council of Validating Universities) and the Council of Deans of British Universities, in order to become the national certification body for higher education in Great Britain. BAC is described by the British Minister for Education as “the only public guarantee to safeguard academic standards in higher education”.
Since 2000, BAC has assessed, certified and inspected 30 educational institutes of higher education outside Great Britain, namely in Greece, Czech Republic, India, Lebanon, Mauritius, Hungary, Bulgaria, Singapore, France, South Africa, Germany and Switzerland.
MC is certified and recognized by BAC as an Institute providing higher education since 2000. The last BAC assessment report praises the Mediterranean College for the services provided to the students, the activities organized and the students’ satisfaction.
QAA – The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education
All Universities and Colleges of Great Britain are obliged to guarantee high standards of education and high quality academic services.
The body responsible to inspect whether Universities and Colleges assure the quality and meet the academic standards is the QAA. In the framework of periodic inspections, QAA checks the quality of the learning opportunities provided to students and drafts a report referring to the points of good practice as well as to the areas that need to be improved. Mediterranean College, as a College collaborating with British Universities, receives regular visits from QAA echelons, in the framework of the inspection carried out by QAA on non-British educational institutes that provide British higher education. This inspection focuses on whether the British University manages efficiently the quality of education provided through the partner College. The last inspection carried out by QAA in Greece was in 2008 when an echelon of QAA visited the Mediterranean College.
NARIC
Since 2006, along with their degree from MC, graduates can also acquire a certification from the British NARIC (National Recognition and Information Centre). NARIC is the respective DOATAP (Hellenic National Academic Recognition and Information Centre) of Great Britain. It checks and then certifies that the degrees (undergraduate and postgraduate) awarded to the graduates of Greek Colleges are totally equivalent in terms of professional and academic rights in Great Britain to those awarded to students of any British university. The acquisition of a NARIC certification supports the recognition procedure for our students’ degrees and is coordinated by the Alumni Office of the College. NARIC certifications are awarded to the holders of Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees and issued by the competent body twice a year.
Franchise programmes
Implementing the Mediterranean College programmes of studies with the method of academic franchise agreements is a guarantee for their quality. The characteristic feature is that they are provided to the College students in exactly the same way as to the students of universities in Britain. The partner university has constant supervision and the responsibility to assure the quality provided to the Mediterranean College in all levels:
- Programme content, modules and student assessment methods
Study programmes (structure, modules, material, assessment method) are developed by the University itself. Therefore, College students are taught exactly the same modules and are assessed in exactly the same topics as the students attending the same programmes in Britain.
- Facilities, library and necessary infrastructure
The University carries out regular checks on the learning infrastructures offered by the University and assures that all resources required for the qualitative provision of its study programmes in Greece are totally available.
- Introduction criteria and admission of students in the programmes
The University has the absolute responsibility to define the admission – registration criteria in the study programmes provided by the College and to register – admit students in its study programmes.
- Student assessment procedure, authentication of the final transcripts of records and degree-awarding
The lecturers of the respective courses in Britain and the Examination Board of the University are responsible to authenticate the transcripts of records of the Mediterranean College students and make decisions on promotion, degree-awarding etc. The lecturers of the Mediterranean College carry out only the first assessment of the exam papers and report the grades to the University.
- Approval and assessment of lecturers
All lecturers of the Mediterranean College are annually assessed and approved by the University in order to hold the accredited lecturer status.
- Student satisfaction
It is the responsibility of the University to operate mechanisms for feedback by the Mediterranean College students as regards their satisfaction with the study programme they attend and the College services. Aim of the university is to assure the Mediterranean College students of a relevant educational experience as the one provided to the UK students.
The degree awarded to MC students is the same as the one awarded to students who have completed the same programme in the UK, and due to the franchise agreement it is also recognized in Greece as equivalent to Higher Educational or Technological Educational Institute degrees in terms of the professional rights attached (Law 4093/2012).
