Online Accreditation Guide
A structured approach for academics and faculty teams, whether you are extending an on-campus accreditation or making a new submission.
Section 8 of 10
What panels look for, and common pitfalls
Panels reviewing online provision for a professional, statutory or regulatory body (PSRB) ask one question in many forms: how do you know an online graduate meets the standard?
Themes panels probe
- Equivalence of outcomes: competences mapped to modules and assessments.
- Assessment integrity: confirming authorship, including your approach to generative artificial intelligence.
- Practical competence: how hands-on skills are developed and assessed.
- Staffing: who teaches, their standing, and staff-to-student ratios.
- Support and engagement: spotting disengagement early at a distance.
- Professional identity: how online students join the professional community.
- Quality assurance: evaluation, external examining and monitoring for the online cohort.
Pitfalls to avoid
- Describing the virtual learning environment instead of the pedagogy.
- Presenting online modules as copies, then struggling to explain changes in delivery.
- Leaving tutor arrangements out of the evidence and the visit.
- Promising the panel resourcing that has not been agreed by faculty management.
- Thin student voice, especially for a new programme.
- Specification, handbook and marketing presenting inconsistent messaging.
A systematic review of 110 studies on dropout from online higher education found that persistence is linked to course quality, academic preparation, motivation, system design and support services. Online students also reported isolation, screen fatigue, workload, technical and financial barriers (Rahmani et al., 2024).
Use it: map your support model against each of these risks, and show how you detect early when a student is disengaging.