Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities
The Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities is a service organization which accredits academic programs as meeting commonly accepted standards of quality education. It is a private, voluntary, non-profit, non-stock corporation registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of the Philippines.
PAASCU is composed of different private educational institutions which validate other private schools with a quality standard attained with regard to their programs.
History
PAASCU was established in November 5, 1957 as a private, voluntary, non-profit and non-stock corporation. Under the suggestion of Bro. Hyacinth Gabriel Connon, F.S.C., president of the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines in 1953, the CEAP came to the conclusion that standards needed to be created to improve Catholic education in the country. A Manual of Accreditation with self-survey forms was crafted for eight different areas: Purposes and Objectives, Faculty, Instruction, Library, Laboratories, Physical Plant, Student Services, and Administration. The CEAP also established an accreditation committee to form the accreditation association and its standards. With the help of Fr. James Meany, S.J. and other key supporters, the PAASCU was established with Fr. Meany as inaugural president in 1957. The Bureau of Education and Culture formally endorsed PAASCU as an accrediting agency in November 1967.In 1977, the Federation of Accrediting Agencies of the Philippines was established, with PAASCU and as one of three founding members. In 1991, the International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education was also established with PAASCU as a founding member. INQAAHE is a global association of over 200 organizations are active in theory and practice of quality assurance higher education.
PAASCU is also one of the founding members of the Asia-Pacific Quality Network. The APQN was established with the purpose of satisfying the needs of quality assurance agencies in higher education. PAASCU has since led the way in that regard.