Online Accreditation Guide

Timing to launch and planning the schedule

Plan backwards from two fixed points: your first intake and the submission window of the professional, statutory or regulatory body (PSRB). Whichever forces the earlier start is the one that binds, and it is usually earlier than teams expect.

Your first timing decision

Launching first and seeking accreditation later is sometimes the only option, for example where a PSRB will only review a programme once it has a live cohort. Ask the PSRB which applies before you choose.

What fixes your schedule

• The PSRB's cycle: submission windows, visit scheduling and how long it takes to issue an outcome. Ask for these in your first contact.
• Your committee calendar: faculty and institutional approval meet on fixed dates. Missing one can cost a full cycle, so map every meeting and its paper deadline.
• Marketing and admissions lead time: recruitment for online programmes often opens many months before launch. Accreditation status wording must be agreed before the first advert goes out.
• Recruitment of tutors: appointments, checks and induction take time, and must finish before teaching starts.
• Content build: online modules must be built and reviewed before launch, and the panel may want to see a live module.
• People's availability: summer leave, marking periods and exam boards slow everything. Avoid putting a crucial deadline in August or a major assessment period.

When the partnership wants to move faster

Online postgraduate taught (PGT) programmes run with a partner, such as an online programme manager, are often planned around recruitment targets and intake dates set well in advance, sometimes with several intakes a year. That creates pressure to launch, or to add an intake, sooner than faculty approval and the PSRB's cycle comfortably allow. Usually the institution's standard cycle of programme approval can be adjusted to accommodate the new programme, though this requires early coordination.

Aligning expectations with each group

• With the partner: share the backwards schedule at the start, mark the fixed dates clearly, and agree in writing which launch date the recruitment plan works to. If an earlier intake is needed, there must be a joint commitment to the steps required to make this happen.
• With faculty management: set out the partner's preferred date next to the earliest date the approval route allows, with the risks of each. Ask for a decision on which to plan for, and whether extra resource or an additional approval point, such as chair's action where your regulations permit it, is available. Faculty resource is often planned on an academic-year basis, so timing considerations can help build in additional capabilities.
• With the PSRB: ask early about submission windows, how far ahead visits are booked, and whether it accepts a launch with accreditation pending. Don't ask it to shortcut its process; ask what the quickest compliant route looks like, and how it handles adding intakes once a programme is accredited.

Treat every new intake as a scheduling decision. Additional start dates can need PSRB notification or approval, more exam boards and more tutors. Add each one to the same schedule before it is marketed, not after.

Scheduling tips

• Build slack in before each gate, not at the end. A late PSRB reply or a deferred committee item should not move your launch.
• Set a go or no-go date. Agree with faculty management the last point at which launch can be deferred without harming applicants.
• Plan for conditions. It is normal for accreditation applications to result in conditions or recommendations. Leave time to meet them before the dates that depend on them.
• Think beyond the first intake. Multiple intakes a year, reaccreditation dates and annual monitoring all need to align with the same calendar.
• Publish one schedule. Keep a single version, owned by the accountable lead, and share it with faculty management and the whole team.