Question & AnswerQ&A (DECS ORDER NO. 93)
The policy encourages and assists educational institutions to improve their standards beyond the minimum required for recognition and promotes voluntary, non-governmental accreditation systems to support deregulation and quality assurance.
The Federation of Accrediting Agencies of the Philippines (FAAP) is recognized as the umbrella agency certified by DECS to oversee accredited programs and grant deregulated status and other benefits.
They pertain to secondary and four-year tertiary level programs only.
The agency must be a nongovernmental, special corporation; demonstrate independence in making accreditation judgments; conform with FAAP accrediting principles; make its standards and procedures public; and submit its minimum academic standards endorsed by FAAP for DECS review.
They receive partial administrative deregulation, such as the authority to graduate students without prior DECS approval and to grant overloads, and partial curricular autonomy to revise curricula within DECS guidelines.
Level III involves full administrative deregulation, minimal reporting requirements, and curricular deregulation allowing the offering of new allied degree courses without prior approvals from DECS.
Institutions/programs that have undergone preliminary surveys and are certified by FAAP as capable of acquiring accredited status within one or two years, with no special benefits granted at this stage.
Yes, if at least three basic tertiary programs have Level II accreditation, or if the secondary program demonstrates outstanding NCEE performance over a set period, benefits similar to accreditation may be extended for specific durations.
It repeals various previous DECS/Bureau of Private Schools orders and memoranda including Bureau of Private Schools Circulars No. 10 (1967), No. 2 (1968), MECS Order No. 36 (1984), certain sections of the Rules and Regulations of Batas Pambansa Blg. 232, DECS Orders No. 32 (1987), No. 38 (1988), and No. 54 (1991).
Non-accredited tertiary undergraduate programs without existing accreditation programs may be entitled to equivalent level accreditation benefits if the institution has at least three Level II accredited programs.