ACCREDITATION AS QUALITY ASSURANCE METHOD IN HIGHER EDUCATION: THE CASE OF DISTANCE EDUCATION

Abstract

In this context, Distance Education (EaD), as an alternative teaching-learning process, not only involves new teaching and learning environments but also highlights the urgent need for teacher training, new means, new technologies, and potentially a new way of teaching and learning. Evaluating its quality should be based on understanding the type of social demand it addresses and assessing the extent to which it satisfies this demand. Additionally, it is important to understand how different types of knowledge work within this framework before evaluating the quality of scientific production, which is often monopolized by a specific epistemological legitimacy. Moreover, understanding the institutional framework that universities should build to manage and evaluate different modes of knowledge production is crucial. In an increasingly competitive world, where technological changes, particularly advancements in digital technologies, have a significant impact on daily life, education faces enormous challenges. Digital technologies can transform teaching by facilitating media convergence, enabling self-learning, redefining the role of teachers, and laying the foundation for a global, denationalized, remote, and mass education. This aligns closely with the needs of the global knowledge economy.