AACCUP is a CHED-recognized institution organized in 1987. It defines accreditation as “a process by which an institution at the tertiary level evaluates its educational activities, in whole or in part, and seeks an independent judgment to confirm that it substantially achieve its objectives, and is generally equal in quality to comparable institutions” ( AACCUP Manual of Accreditation, 2006). The same manual cited also the many benefits of accreditation which includes:

•  Accredited Programs. it lend prestige to accredited schools, justified by the possession of quality standards and commitment to maintain these at a high level; reveal their strengths and their weaknesses that need to be addressed; help parents identify which school they may send their children to for a quality education; make possible for prospective funding agencies to know what to support and how much support is needed;

• Accreditation has also been used as a criterion in administrative decision-making in a variety of ways. Applicants in DepEd who are graduates of accredited programs are given points; used as a criterion in SUC levelling; criterion in the selection of foreign schools

• CHED provides benefits to institution with accredited programs. Accreditation level is used by CHED and DBM in recommending budget allocations

The AACCUP Accreditation has two categories: Institutional Accreditation and Program Accreditation. The Process may be done onsite, online and hybrid mode (combination of online and on-site validation). The Institutional Accreditation (IA) is the accreditation of the whole institution looking using an IA instrument. The process is evaluated by a team of Institutional Accreditors of AACCUP composed of senior accreditors who are either members or former members of the AACCUP Board of Trustees and/or SUC Presidents. The Areas of evaluation in the Institutional Accreditation are:

1.      Governance and Management

2.      Teaching, Learning and Evaluation

3.      Faculty and Staff

4.      Research

5.      Extension, Consultancy and Linkages

6.      Support to Students

7.      Library

8.      Infrastructure and Other Learning Resources

9.      Quality Assurance Culture

Program accreditation on the other hand is the assessment and accreditation of curricular offering using an AACCUP program instrument. It has different types of visits having different areas of evaluation and different criteria to pass the level.