Akkreditierung im Hochschulrecht – Institutionelle Akkreditierung, Programmakkreditierung, Prozessakkreditierung

The accreditation of universities and degree courses as a means towards the safeguarding of the quality and comparability of degree courses has, within a short time, secured a firm place within the instrumental medley of the legislation on higher education. To a great extent, we are still in the dark as regard to its legal basis, its classification according to legal theory and its covering by constitutional law. The article discloses the economic rationality of accreditation, regiments it into the system of instruments of control existing in public administration, systematizes its structure and analyses its responsibility in the light of the managerial guidelines under constitutional law set down in Article 5 paragraph (3) GG (i.e. Grundgesetz = German Basic Law). Among other things, it comes to the conclusion that the structuring of accreditation de lege lata does not meet the requirements of Article 5 paragraph (3) GG to exercise the governement's warranty when including private protagonists in the supervision of the higher education system. It also comes to the result that system accreditation which is currently being discussed can complement programme accreditation perspectively, but cannot replace it.