Job Discussion Forums

[geaaronson]

The university I teach at is currently undergoing the process of ISO accreditation. It seems somewhat an unnecesary process to my way of thinking and involves more work than it saves in time or ease of bureaucracy.
I am still unclear as to its validity. Can anyone out there tell me if there is any extrinsic value to ISO accreditation, ie. does it get the school access to international programs, foundation funding, etc? I have directed these questions directly to ISO and was told to ask EMA, who in turn have not answered my questions.
To further the discussion, how many of you out there have had to deal with ISO?

[Phil_K]

Having worked in a company in England, (not educational), and been involved in working toward ISO accreditation, my experience is that it is only for the prestige of the company. Whether in the educational field there are any advantages, I don't know. But you are right about the waste of time. In my view, a good business or institution stands on the delivery it offers. Period. Not on some badge that the majority of people don't kinow the meaning of. I mean, if you don't know, how can potential students know!

[jaimem-g]

I've heard of some business schools and colleges getting into this type of certification in the US. I think they were all private. Is yours a private or public university? Do they do a lot of business careers or business contracts?

They are obviously trying to impress someone, or some businesses, for whatever reason. Just as Phil K says - for the prestige.

Or maybe somebody in the administration got a wild hair.

[geaaronson]

It�s a public university and its counterpart in Merida also has ISO accreditation. You go figger.

[Dragonlady]

deleted

[donato]

Never even heard of ISO. But I am way newbie. Anyway, out of curiousity, what does ISO stand for, but more importantly what's the deal exactly?

[geaaronson]

It stands for International Standards Organization. It�s an international accreditation organization, principally designed to check up on manufacturing and industrial standards. Think of it as the equivalent to the GOODHOUSE SEAL OF APPROVAL in the USA but applied to high tech.

I had a student in Merida 4 years ago who was an engineer by training and repaired medical equipment such as X-Ray machines and blood testing apparatus throughout the Yucatan peninsula and Tabasco. He worked for a small outfit that did this. As they wanted to expand, they thought that if they received ISO accreditation, they would get more clients.

One of the things that I recalled was his telling me that he had to do some matrix calculus problems for the ISO test. For the life of me, I can not understand the significance of testing someone on their freshman college math in order to ascertain they know their job. But again, you go figger.

[Phil_K]

[geaaronson]

I wouldn�t brag about it if it were, Phil K.