Improving Student Learning Outcomes through Program and Institutional Accreditation: The Philippine Experience

The paper elucidates how accreditation of academic programs and entire academic institutions help improved learning outcomes. Specific measures to gauge improvement in learning outcomes as a result of program or institutional accreditation are enrollment/student population, passing rate in licensure examinations, being adjudged as centers of excellence/development, being converted into a state university from being a state college, and improvements in learning environments. Analyses revealed that as state universities and colleges (SUCs) in the Philippines improved in their accreditation statuses, reflecting an overall improvement in their quality and standards, their student population increased, their passing rate in licensure examinations improved, their status as center of development/excellence enhanced, their conversion into state university from being a state college hastened and their learning environments substantially improved. Numerous data obtained point to the fact that indeed program and institutional accreditation, as means of assuring quality and excellence, helped improved student learning outcomes in the Philippines.