Accreditation Pilot

In June 2011, the Society of Biology launched the pilot of the Accreditation Programme.  The pilot formed a focused beginning for the programme, allowing us to test the process and criteria, before launching the full scale Accreditation Programme in 2012. The pilot initially focused on two subject areas - biochemistry and in vivo sciences. 

We received a lot of interest in taking part in the pilot from higher education institutes and from this list of interested parties we selected a manageable number of degree courses to enter the pilot. The pilot candidate selection criteria can be found on the Accreditation Reports and Documents page.  We have ensured that we have included a variety of institutions and a mixture of course types in order to thoroughly test the process.  Following the pilot, when the Accreditation Programme is launched, accreditation will be open to all higher education institutes in the UK.

The pilot will give the Society of Biology the opportunity to evaluate every aspect of the accreditation process before the launch. Individuals and organisations who participate in the pilot will be asked to provide feedback throughout the programme, and a full evaluation will be carried out in order to appropriately shape the final Accreditation Programme.  For details of the Evaluation Plan, please click here. The Evaluation Report is now avaliable online here.

For more information on the pilot, please see the Accreditation Handbook which has information on the background to the project, the process of accreditation and the assessment criteria.

Accreditation pilot timeline

The Accreditation pilot is a three stage process.

Stage One

June – October 2011

HEIs submit documentary evidence in support of their application to the Society of Biology which will be assessed by the Accreditation Assessment Panel

Stage Two

November 2011 – January 2012

The Accreditation Assessment Panel will carry out a site visit at the applying HEI to evaluate the HEI’s facilities; speak to students about their learning experience; and hold face to face discussions with the applying HEI.

Stage Three

February 2012

The Accreditation Assessment Panel will make a recommendation to the Society of Biology Council to award or withhold Accreditation.

Award ceremony

To celebrate the completion of the pilot, an Awards Ceremony was held in the Members Dining Room at the House of Commons, further information can be found here.